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Colby asked Larry, "What should I get Charlie for his birthday?" Larry steepled his fingers. "What message do you wish to send?""What do you mean?" "All gifts transmit messages about the sender and receiver, their relationship, monetary status, social expectations ...""I just want to get him something he'll like." "Hmm ... A sundial?"Colby asked Don, "What should I get Charlie for his birthday?" "He's hard to buy for. What about a beer-of-the-month club?"Colby asked Alan. "A book on cooking or home repair? A haircut?"Colby asked Will. "A new baseball glove, `cause his is falling apart."Colby asked Amita. "How about an alarm clock? A really annoying one?"Colby asked David. "More white-board markers. He's always using up the office's."Colby asked Megan. "Some soothing music. He never slows down."Colby asked Nena. "A pony!"Finally, Colby asked Charlie. "A hug."Colby didn't wait but gave Charlie a hug immediately. "What's wrong?" "I hate birthdays," Charlie muttered. "They just mark another year away from being a prodigy, another year out of my prime, another year past flame out."So Colby got Charlie a blue glass-and-porcelain sundial, a subscription to Local-Brew-of-the-Month Club, a book on the science of cooking, a sturdy baseball mitt, an extra-loud alarm clock, an economy pack of whiteboard markers, `Mozart for Relaxation,' and pony pajamas. He also got a cloth-bound copy of A Mathematician's Apology, a 1940 essay on the beauty of mathematics, but also where the 62-year-old author admitted he might finally be past his prime. Inside the cover, he tucked an article on a study from U.C. Davis that determined that the sample mean age of mathematicians' best contributions was 38.8. At the bottom of the article, he wrote, "You've got a lot of math years left in you. Love, Cole."end