Pretty much everything is better now that barn-minton has been invented. The skies are notably bluer, the birds more bird-esque, the days heightened in their day-ness. It happened in a barn in Catskill, New York -- the family barn of a very mysterious man. A very ingenious man looked into the rafters and saw some possibility, and pretty soon the lawn game was adapted to the hayloft. The shuttlecock cut parabolas in the air until close to three in the morning. I ended up sleeping in the barn -- my very first barn repose -- and woke to slants of light. In the farm house kitchen, the mysterious man's mom made french toast casserole, which was as sweet as the new game itself.