I was reading a magazine in bed last night and my wife was reading some pulp fiction . It was about 10 thirty and I needed a pencil to mark a paragraph I wanted to pass on to our kids so I asked her if she had a pencil. It is a harmless habit some men acquire who have accommodating wives. She usually has a knack of knowing where everything is, in the car, in the rec room, or even in my shop. I am a little spoiled.

This time she said with a slight cutting edge, "No, I don't have a pencil, I don't have a peemy butter samich, I don't have a paper clip and I don't have a cough drop? I do have a Kleenex, a hairnet and a very good book.

I detected a modicum of irritation in her voice as I am very attuned to her after 40 years but I said nothing and subdued my reaction and disappointment, put my magazine down, turned off my light and buried my head in my pillow.

I waited to see whether she would turn over and go to sleep but I zonked off first. Three hours later I woke up and began to read again.

Her light then came on again and she nudged me and held a number two Ticonderoga out toward me . I sleepily asked "What is that?"

She said "It is a pencil. You wanted a pencil."

I was befuddled and could not remember. After a flash I said, "Oh, that was last night. I don't need one now. But thanks, it was sweet of you.

But as long as you are awake do you have a glass of water?"

So the Seattle PI is for sale or closing its doors. It lost 14 million last year. Am I happy about this news? Of course not. I have been a PI subscriber forever. I love Horsey, Hagar the Horrible, Zits, Art Thiel, and on and on and on. I even buy the Seattle Times and marvel at how the two papers manage to not look at what is important front page news with a different look. Of course, they both look at us as pesky competitors and would not weep at our funeral. That is called toleration as long as we don't get too uppity. Fat chance. Both dailies are working hard to capture more local action on their pages and that keeps us nimble and humble.

To our readers we say, thanks for your loyalty and maybe to remember to murmur a little prayer that the rapidly changing lifestyles we must respect in our weekly toil will find us enduring and endearing.