The first paragraph of George Will's column today suggests a visit to the metaphor clinic:

"August, when time's winged chariot usually slows perceptibly, is occasionally eventful (1914, 1939), and this year is enlivened by President Clinton's nomination of William Weld as ambassador to Mexico, by Sen. Jesse Helms's opposition and by Weld's feistiness. Normally it would require plastic surgery to implant in the public an interest in an ambassadorial nomination, but this little pebble rolling downhill is producing an avalanche of fascinating facets."

We're on a literary rolling coaster, jiggling like Jell-O, heading into the eye of the storm.