Today I went to Skendarian Pharmacy, a family-owned business in my neighborhood. I love Skendarian's as much as I hate the local chain drugstores. Is there any variety of business as depressing as the urban chain drugstore? I always have the feeling someone wants to bop me on my head for my oxycontin, or because I'm blocking the Snuggli display. There's nothing picturesque about Skendarian's, no soda fountain, but the pharmacists all know what they're talking about, and they seem to actually enjoy their jobs, and I find it deeply pleasant to shop there.

At any rate, one of the pharmacists was talking to a trim elderly man, who was explaining that prednisone had given him diabetes, and then said, "Well, you gotta laugh. You gotta keep a positive attitude. Hey," he said. "You hear my boss is gettin' divorced?" He looked well over retirement age. "Yeah, I was up there at the wedding. Tony Bennett was the singer, and that woman, whatsername, Krill, Cull--Krall? She's married to that Costello. Well you know they just had twins."

It took me a moment to register that he meant that Elvis Costello and Diana Krall had twins. (That's one of those celebrity marriages that I feel invested in. I'd be devsastated if they broke up, like Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed.)

When it was my turn to pay, I asked the pharmacist, "I'm dying to know--who's his boss?"

"That's privilleged information," he said sadly. (At CVS, they woulda told me!) He added, "But he's very rich."