■ The other evening my phone rang, and I picked it up. I had been rereading Shogun, so I said,
“Moshimoshi?”
“…er…is this Wayne, ah…er….”
“Yes, this is Wayne ah er.” (Foreigners, mostly those from The Mainland, seem to have trouble pronouncing my last name. I first became aware of this 20 years ago in boot camp, where our bulldog-jawed drill sergeant was rendered speechless as he pondered my name each morning at roll call. It got to the point where I’d raise my hand and shout, “Here!” at the slightest hesitation on his, and subsequent instructors’, part.)
Today I no longer call out, but my right arm still twitches with the last vestiges of a classical Pavlovian response. So when the phone rang I picked it up, listened and,…