This is going to be the cover of the twins' latest album. I probably never mentioned they were in a band before. That's because they're not. I just like to make stuff up sometimes.

I tried to spike their hair up. I've decided that the best way to ensure that they are embarrassed by their baby pictures later in life is to try to make them look cool. Then, years and years hence when what I consider cool is horribly lame, I'll bust out these pictures.

I'm still looking for a store that carries baby emo outfits. They're this generation's equivalent of sailor suits.

* * * * *

The Otter of Despair has a new ending. There has been some confusion about the seaweed bit. I guess I sort of assumed that everyone knows that when sea otters sleep they wrap seaweed around their fat little bodies as they float on their backs to keep from drifting away. So that's what sea otters do. I'm not sure what river otters do; probably wrap river rocks around themselves or logs or something.

So in failing to wrap it up, OOD floats away into the night, same as the first edition. The difference will be in the illustration of last page, the one that says "THE END?" Somewhere in the drawing will be the split pieces of a familiar-looking bivalve. Did OOD finally crack his clam as he drifted off? Will we ever see him again? River otters don't really wrap themselves up in rocks, do they? All these questions and more will be answered in the next installment of Otter Of Despair: River Requiem.

* * * * *

I've decided to train Ender to be a writer. He's coming along well; he has already mastered the mid-morning nap.



So when I die at 40 without finishing the odyssey of OOD, Ender can pick up where I left off. He'll be my little Brian Herbert, and I guess Joshua can be my little Kevin J. Anderson.

Assuming that Josh can master the mid-morning nap, that is.