My mother is up from a visit in Seattle, and we went for the obligatory trek through Pike Place Market. We went into a shop that sold t-shirts and hats, and sitting on one of the racks was a bit of paper that said, "Please do not bend this sign."

I spent a moment trying to bend my brain around it instead, trying to figure out why it seemed both odd and familiar. I flopped around in Magritte's neighborhood for a while before I found what I was looking for in Eden (and the Lord spake unto them, saying, "Hey, tourists, I've placed this in your midst just so I can tell you not to touch it").

I walked around to the other side of the rack to get a look at the other side of the sign, and found a list of t-shirt prices. That's what I expected to see, but it was still disappointing. The implications of a sign that exists only to discourage you from touching it are far more intriguing.