Dud was awfully quiet all through the daily dissemination of anything on page one of the Valley Weekly Miracle, which wasn’t like him at all. Just sucked down caffeine and silently shook his head now and then.

“Anita OK, Dud?”

“Oh … sure, Doc.”

“You OK?”

He nodded, then looked up with a wistful, philosophical look that our guys don’t usually get until after the buttered toast. “Sometimes,” he said, “I think it’s pearls before swine, that’s all.”