The Clawsons' kaiju lawn gnome collection was great, and Burt Merrill's alligator-shaped birdhouse was impeccably crafted. But Ms. VanDerweifen's panther head mailbox was widely regarded as the decisive finishing stroke in the long war of attrition with the homeowners association's Yard Standarization Committee.

Since high school, Bob Morill and Jack Barry had been at it, each competing with the other to win the affection of Delilah Rhodes with the most beautiful and skillfully sculpted bird. Thirty years later they were still at it, and she had acquired quite a menagerie.

Alcira Amorosa, née Alice Bonns, was the burlesque queen of Markus and Bentham's Travelling Vaudeville Cavalcade. The show was a "one night only" operation so she had to travel light: her mother's hairbrush and hand mirror; some French perfume her ex-husband bought her on their honeymoon; and a little something to slip in the drinks of men who got too handsy for her comfort.

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A shipping container full of these bok choy statuettes was all that was salvaged from the sinking of the Lucky Free cargo ship during a freak typhoon. The ship’s owner claimed an insurance windfall, and the container eventually made it to port, where it was loaded on a truck. The truck’s driver was distracted by his discovery of a winning coffee cup promotional peel-off, causing an eight-car pileup on the freeway. Miraculously, no one was injured because the other seven vehicles were armored cars transporting a combined $18 million dollars, which were blown across several square miles by an unexpected windstorm.

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The Istanbul Express, a specialty among the less reputable taverns along the Bosporus, is a series of demitasse cups filled with progressively more potent mixtures of raki, vodka, and, in the last cup, a float of butyllithium, which ignites upon contact with the air. Don’t try this one at home.

The lighter had good heft; a nice, solid feel in Boss Phelps' hand when he lit up one of his Cubans. It was also easy to clean off when he had to bash some numbskull for getting wise.

No one could resist the intoxicating scent and succulent flavor of the candied orange rinds Mrs Quinzell put out in the candy dish. It was so difficult to find food for her giant Dionaea muscipula "she called it Barnaby" without such an enticement.

They were called Cloud Gaze and Breeze Dancer, and Larry had always hoped they would fly him out of here. But Lucy deserved them more, he thought. The orderlies restraining him stared up in disbelief as she dipped them through the air, tentatively at first, then gracefully, and took to the sky. They suited her.