This unforgettable series of essays paints a bittersweet and vivid portrait of American life and of the lessons-some hard, some hilarious-life can teach. Readers are invited to bring their insights and imaginations to their reading. QUOTES FROM The Carwash That Ate the Green Wrinkle I exercised the power bestowed on me by Mother Nature. I ignored it. My confidence returned. I was Airboy again, ready to soar with Wilbur and Orville and Chuck Yeager, and all the rest whose second home had been in the clouds. You rarely hear a one-syllable word in the Southern language. For some of us the first words we ever learned in a foreign language were 'Klatuu, barrata nicto.' An ordinary man wouldn't humiliate himself to teach a lesson that would change the life of an ignorant boy.