The Snickerty-Snackerty Man

''Want to forget? Here's someone who can help.'' Here comes the Snickety-Snackerty Man. His services are whispered of in the Occult Underground, half as threat, half as promise. For the Snickerty-Snackerty Man can reach inside your head with those long, long fingernails of his, and *snick* *snack* there goes a memory. Want to relive the first time you tasted pistachio icecream? *snick* *snack* there goes the first time. Want to reread Shakespeare, or Tim Powers, or Dirk Allen for the first time, to experience that sense of wonder again? * snick* *snack* and the books are an unknown land to you. Want to experience the rush of first love? *snick* *snack* and you've never loved before. And there you are, free to experience these things again. Of course, you can't quite remember the name of the little girl who had strawberry when you had pistachio, or the smell of the cut grass in Central Park on that hot summer night when he read Othello's part with such majesty, or the name of your wife and children. But that's not important *snick* *snack*. Copyright jfs, posted on the official UA website on July 25, 2002