On the way to the playground, my son and I came across 10 feet of plastic tubing, the remnants of someone’s irrigation project. “FREE!” a sign encouraged. I draped it around my neck and dragged it along. As my son raced his bike around the field, I embraced my armature of tubing. Dog owners looked at me expectantly until one finally approached. “What can you do with that thing?” she inquired. I realized she thought I had some special talent, like a stilt walker or a juggler. “Ahh. I can’t do anything with it, but I’m hoping my ferrets can.