They say you can tell a lot about a man by looking at his toes -- at least, I think they do. (But then, they also said that the Y2K problem was going to destroy the world. So, go figure.) In my story this week, two toes tell a titillating tale. For as you might expect, my point extends far beyond mere, mortal toes.

Alex Andrews is a self-employed cabinet-maker. He builds and installs custom-made cabinets. Alex's neighbor, Brian Bodewell, is an information technology systems project specialist. (Until 1997, he was a called a computer programmer. Today, he does the same work, but they upgraded his title.) Both are healthy guys in their mid-40s; both are married; both go to church on Sundays. Oh never mind; that's more than you need to know.

Last November, Alex was retrieving a large, monkey-wrench from the top shelf in his shop. The wrench slipped out of his hand, and, Murphy being what Murphy is, the wrench fell like a rock directly onto the big toe of his left foot. Alex was wearing only tennis shoes at the time. So, as you might expect, it hurt like heck!

Out of sheer coincidence, on the same day, Brian was unloading a pallet of decorative stones for a retaining wall in his back yard. One of the 20-pound stones fell off the top of the pallet, and, Murphy being what his left foot. Dressed in footwear similar to Alex's, it hurt like heck. Kinda' like the Bobbsey Twins, huh?

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