Here is what Sighkey says about the question of Hopkins’s back: “Personally I like the idea of a grey back to Hopkins. A type of disguise in which the back deceives the audience into thinking that they are looking at a fairly ordinary jersey and then they are thunderstruck when they see the glory of the variegation and Fair Isle of the front.”  I do not know that Hopkins will have an audience, properly speaking, but if so, I sure want them to be thunderstruck by its glory. I will therefore pull out the variegation back to the ribbing and do it in gray. Or even grey.

Sighkey also asked what we sell at the store where I work, and she is not the first, so this time I will answer. The short answer is this: educational stuff. Toys, games, puppets, puzzles, books, art supplies, music, musical instruments, classroom decorations, math and science supplies — well, that’s hardly a short answer any more.

So for example yesterday we took care of a grandfather seeking a game for the whole family to play, a woman wanting to fill a basket with things related to hunting and fishing, a factory supervisor laminating spec sheets, a parent worried about a second grader who wasn’t grasping subtraction, a discount store manager choosing motivational stuff for her staff’s sales goals, a person planning to supervise the making of 25 model sharks, and a private investigator looking for a good test of observational ability and “forward-thinking.” Plus of course lots of teachers, homeschoolers, religious educators, and people buying toys. We also had toy reps in, so we got to play with puppets and decide between the undressed quacking duck and the duck and frog combo with slickers and Sou’westers. In addition to selling things, we have workshops for parents and teachers, storytimes for children, and suchlike. Not every town has a store like ours — we are the only one in our county, and the nearest such for people in several counties in two neighboring states as well — but if there is one near you, you should go there some day and play.