I think I’ve begun to see myself as the wind-up bird, flying through the summer sky, lighting on the branch of a huge tree somewhere, winding the world's spring. If there really is no more wind-up bird, someone would have to take on its duties. Someone would have to wind the world's spring in its place. Otherwise, the spring would run down and the delicately functioning system would grind to a halt. The only one who seems to notice that the wind-up bird is gone, however, is me.