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What interests me most is that Schaumann, the state executioner, bred mice In his spare time Sirens, ozone, exhaust are words I could use to entice you into thinking yourself interested in the scene at Sing Sing where Schaumann, of whom you’ll hear quite a bit more, was dispatching this or that killer on a day let’s say in spring Did you know that he lived in an undecorated house? As a rule, he was inclined toward plainness An absence of adornment in his clothing, decorations, speech, wife, car, habits, comestibles He could have lived thus even if employed as a dog catcher or chiropodist Ostentation was invisible to him Or he preferred not to see it Tasteful or un, he found anything done for no reason than to excite the senses to be in poor form He had never thought otherwise Perhaps a transcription error in the old zygotic alphabet A likelihood that would not have been unfamiliar to him, breeding his mice Here a one with a longer tail, there a one who wouldn’t take food Schaumann eschewed even condiments Nor would he wear charms or trinkets He had lost his wedding ring on his honeymoon While swimming Sucked away by the salt he would not have added to his beef stew Leading his wife to joke that Schaumann was now married to the sea A joke, for those with an ear for such things Schaumann had no guile His children found it easy to deceive him His children found him simple Given his profession, however, I am tempted to see something defensive in his meticulous triviality Ostentation would draw attention If attention were paid to Schaumann, the attender might learn what Schaumann did for a living So he was ashamed of it?   Sources differ   His children found him simple I think they were mistaken And, anyway, they will not read this story I won’t encourage them to do so, and I’ll ask that you not bring it to their attention And did