Rats and Tails: A Working Title

 

Can we talk? Let’s be honest. It’s hard to get your attention. I’m not blaming you- we are bombarded with more information than our brains can handle. To add to the problem there are thousands of articles and books published every week- each begging or demanding our attention.

 

So here is my problem. I have to come up with a title that will grab your attention in five seconds, which is the average attention span for humans in today’s world. So I came up with “Rats and Tails”. I long for the good old days. Nobody could read. There were no televisions or radios. Communication was limited to the knowledge and opinions of your family and a few neighbors in the village.

 

Then along came the printing press and people decided they may as well learn how to read. Still information took quite a while to get to us what with type-setting, printing and delivery of the papers by wagon. Yes, you have a point. Even then there were the sensational headlines about national news such as “Paul Revere Terrorized the Villages”, or even local news such as “Hanging and Picnic Next Sunday”.

 

But still, today we have to contend with Four faces in boxes talking fast and often at once on CNN with a corner box live streaming people sifting through the rubble of their former home after a tornado, looking for their remote. Then there’s the banner running at the bottom reminding us that in 12 hours and 8 minutes the Democratic debate will begin to determine our country’s fate. Wait, the banner has changed to the weather threats in six major cities. 220 million people are hot today. Run.

 

So here I sit on a stack (digitally speaking) of 80 short stories, in my pathetic attempt to compete with modern communication for your attention. Worse still, I propose to offer my humble observations of the human condition in a book. How quaint. My only hope is that the title will make the right impact and hold your attention. Oh, don’t worry I will trim down those stories to about 39.

 

So I can only hope that I have hooked you with my title. No, I’m not going to give you any hints. I won’t respond to your guess that the title implies an apocalyptic story about rats taking over the world. Nor am I going to respond to your guess that the title refers to a nouveau cookbook to replace the Atkins craze. You will have to see for yourself. There will be scattered clues throughout, but the real meaning of “Rats and Tails” will not be revealed until the shocking concluding chapter. Prepare yourself for quite a ride. I’ll see you again at the end. By the way it’s 87 degrees and a 60% chance of a shower later today in Seattle.