The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Everyone knows: Wally's Pet World sells the sickest, the oldest, and the mangiest animals. But that doesn't stop George from heading nine counties and eleven hours toward some strip mall into Graysville. He drums a folded bag on his lap with his fingers. The car deviates toward the right side of the crooked road.

"Look, Honey, can you believe this? A five percent discount on anything you can fit into this bag."

The first time it happened, he was sitting in the kitchen behind me.

I was at the counter cutting vegetables for dinner when my older son said, "When God talked to me earlier today, before I went to school..."

That's how he spoke as a child. He was only 11, but his diction was formal, biblical almost, and he habitually attached clauses to make his points more precise. If he heard from God, it would be important to know not only that it was today and that it was early but also that it had occurred before school.