There was a poster in my Latin class of an elephant who had just taken a dump with Stercus Accidit! at the bottom in bright yellow letters—the professor’s idea of a Latin joke. But now that I think of that poster, I realize the image was completely wrong. Shit doesn’t happen all at once; no invisible elephant unloads a pile right where you’re about to step. What happens is this: Some bunny rabbit lets a little pellet drop. Then another one. Then another. You don’t worry much because the bunny’s cute and the pellets are small, easily brushed away. Stercus accidit. A little bit at a time.
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