Regarding William

When I first went to work in Fort Worth, I was the new guy in a group of engineers and programmers who'd already been working together for years. Although I'd been persuasive enough to talk myself into a position just when they were gearing up to do a major project, I didn't actually have an assigned job. James, a particularly compassionate soul, took pity on me and mentored me. So naturally I tagged along with James quite a bit until I found my niche.

There were also a couple of programmers (named William and Lin) in the group, who'd apparently started with the company on the same day and who'd worked shoulder-to-shoulder ever since. One day I happened to see William without Lin, so I inquired, "Where's Tweedle-dee?"

Without hesitation William (in homage to my colleague James) replied, "Where's Beavis?"

One day William shared a story about his three-year-old daughter, who was apparently a verbally gifted child. From the moment she rose in the morning until she drifted off at night, she chattered constantly. One evening as they were sitting down for supper, William felt he just couldn’t bear the onslaught any longer.

He reached into his wallet and, pulling out a dollar bill, said to his beloved child verrrry slowly: "Sweetheart, if you can stop talking until we finish supper, I’ll give you a whole DOLLAR!"

Her eyes grew large and she readily agreed. With the bargain thus struck, William heaved a big sigh and visibly relaxed -- that is, until she began humming.

I asked William, "So did she get the dollar?"

He shrugged, "Oh yeah, she was very good; hummed that damned Barney the Dinosaur song throughout supper (even with her mouth full), but true to her promise, she didn’t utter a single word."