The Neighbors

I've read and re-read The Neighbors (a.k.a. The Neighboring Families) trying to think of something to say about it, but I consistently come up with nothing. Maybe I don't get it? It's full of conflicting interpretations of beauty and "the beautiful" and *SPOILER ALERT* there is a dead bird in it - something that always makes me a bit misty (even if that bird was kind of a jerk).

I've singled out the reference to ducks, "standing on their heads in the water." Fun Fact: Oscar Wilde would later adopt this quirky and adorable description of duck behavior in one of my favorite stories of his, The Devoted Friend (a dead-bird-free story).

"... there is no accounting for ducks, you never know what they will do next."

The Old Street Lamp

It will surprise no one who knows me that the image from The Old Street Lamp that inspired me was that of the lamp's trio of gutter-bound, would-be successors: a herring's head, a bit of rotting wood, and a glow worm. All of these guys claim that they would be suitable replacements for the lamp because they all ostensibly glow in the dark. Sure, we all believe the glow worm (a common term, I learned, for all manner of bioluminescent insects, such as fireflies - none are actually worms, although I couldn't resist drawing a worm here), but a piece of wood? a herring's head? The Modern Classics animated adaptation attempts an explanation for the wood, giving the dreary bit of driftwood the excuse that he is covered in a glowing algae. Unless the herring's head is covered in the same algae, I can't figure out why it would glow. I found no references anywhere else, legendary or scientific, to a glowing fish head. Anybody else heard of this?