Kickass takes the boy out of the man

Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that the keeper has managed to hold onto aspects of his “boy” identity far beyond reason and into the realm of absurdity.  Consider toys.  For many years he collected antique toys—from his actual boyhood era, which allowed him to amass hundreds of wind-ups, tin trucks and tractors, too many of which still clutter up the shelves he shares with Phyllis.  Being the sort of “take charge” guy that he is, the keeper has finally wrestled procrastination to a fall, and will be at the Mt. Horeb FFA-sponsored toy show tomorrow Jan. 5 at the high school.  He will be standing behind a table laden with some of the remaining tokens of his misspent adulthood while Phyllis cheers him on.  There are, however, a few items he will not be parting with: a blue metal toy sedan from the ‘30’s and a colorful Lehman bird that flies on a string.  Kickass understands: if you take the boy completely out of the man you are pretty much left with an empty shell.  Phyllis is nodding.