When I happened to mention in passing to my acquaintance Rory that I was on a long, painful deathwatch for certain of my hopes and ambitions, he swung his booted feet off his desk, jabbed his finger at me and said:

Usually we think so little of other people that we assume they’re incapable of the intelligence, discipline and cooperation for a credible, sustained attack against us.

But when we need something from them that might dramatically improve our lives, we imagine them to be brilliant and supremely capable of the most impossibly complicated maneuvers to thwart us.

You’re paranoid, Churm. Take up your knitting and think of other things. Rory's Law--carved in stone.

When I got the news the next day that I had been right and Rory wrong, I laughed and laughed and laughed at his expense….