I picked it out and tapped my fingers on the drum head, listening to memories the riff evoked, because I had a toy drum once, too. We all did, in the years before time and maturity sent us marching to more strident cadences.

The toilet seat remains in my den. I do as I please in the den, where I have other photographs: Richard Nixon, wearing his famous "I Am Not a Crook" expression; Jerry Brown, eyes cast beatifically upward, adrift in Zen and planetary politics.

I rummaged among the memories. A record album. Shaun Cassidy singing "Da Doo Ron Ron." So help me. "Da Doo Ron Ron" and other hits. Circa 1977.