This little tile was given to me many years ago by a family I stayed with in Lille. I love it, both for the suggestion that a game of pelote basque can be played with such casual ease, and for the fact that it has endured whatever it has been put through. No, I am not into antiques, but I am into stories and into understanding the formative effects of providence and experience. That is why I write. That, and a profound enjoyment of the sound, the look and the feel of words. If you share either of these interests, or you like stories, there might just something on these pages for you.