Pipe-Smoking Man

As chairman of the National Beagle Club, Mr. Wiley is obliged to attend the annual board meeting in Aldie. But as he is in his nineties, Mother offered to drive him down in his station wagon. As a pipe-smoking man, Mr. Wiley indulged himself frequently during the trip, suffocating us in the backseat. As we breathed out the cracked open windows, Mr. Wiley asked us each how we knew we were getting close. I pointed to the stone wall which parallels the dirt road to Aldie. Now, every time I pass it, I think of Mr. Wiley and his pipe.