Hard Times At J. Peterman

When I heard last week that J. Peterman was filing for bankruptcy, I searched for a predictable joke in the Peterman style.

I said that, with Peterman gone, I felt the way I had when Gerald and Sara Murphy closed down the Villa America at Cap d'Antibes--Scott was sober and unavailable to make scenes, anyway, and Zelda was crazy and the magic was gone.

Or--trying again--I said I felt as I had that night at the Muthaiga Club when Karen Blixen told us the coffee plantation was finished; hadn't been the same since Denys died.

But it is not so easy...