My neighbor Bernie has been leaving books on my stoop for at least 20 years. To say he’s thoughtful is to say that Lamar Jackson is athletic. Bernie hears a rumor about neighbors — that their kids play ice hockey, for instance — and, forget about it: You can expect old National Hockey League yearbooks and biographies of NHL stars on the stoop every couple of months, usually with a sticky note attached and an amusing quip written with a felt-tip pen.
