Nigeria, Dec. 11 -- Let me put the kettle on. This idea won't leave me alone. You know the old saying? The palm wine tapper is drunk, he thinks the palm is short.

I keep picturing him, you see? This fellow up in the tree at dusk, gourd tied to his waist, humming. He's had a few good pulls of his own work. The world is soft.

He looks down at the ground, which seems suspiciously close, & thinks: "Well, that was quick. An easy climb today." & the tree, of course, hasn't changed. It's his own sense of things that's gone all compressed & cozy.

Now, hold that thought.

I was reading the paper this morning. Something about our president, Tinubu, sending troops to Benin. A "stabilizing force," they call it. A "regional duty." Very solemn.

But...