Ping, Percy and Jeff

Jeff Banner was just such a reader.

Jeff read with attention to detail, comprehension, objective empathy and compassionate honesty.

He found occasional brilliance in the writing of obscure authors such as Ice Rivers, Thornton Krell, Genesee Johnny, Blonde Floozie and Jose Martin.

Aside from his above average reading, Jeff was quite an average fellow. His height was five foot eight inches which meant that anyone shorter than he was short and anyone taller than he was tall. Coming from such an average place, Jeff considered himself a bastion of common knowledge as well as common sense. If a concept was difficult for Jeff to grasp, it was probably difficult for most people so Jeff wasn't hesitant to call bullshit when he heard it.

Jeff also was proactive, anticipatory and logical in his comprehension.

He figured out quickly that Percy was an ostrich and that Ping was a ballplayer.

He surmised that Percy and Ping had the pursuit of spaghetti in common. He was convinced that spaghetti would be at the heart of their conflict if the story he had been reading wasn't bullshit which Jeff didn't think that it was or he would have called it such.

Jeff was intrigued enough to look up Ping Bodie on Wikipedia and discovered that yes indeed, Ping and Percy had engaged in a spaghetti eating contest in Jacksonville, Florida. Ping was declared the winner when, after each had consumed 11 bowls of spaghetti, Percy passed out.

Jeff did something he rarely did while reading; he laughed out loud.

Jeff loved the story so much that he decided to tell the story to his wife Janet without fulling considering the ramifictions of telling such a story.

Stay tuned.