Bob and Tom

Bob and Tom, a pair of old-codger turkeys, live on a small family farm. They would fit right in, however, in some poultry version of Chelm, the village of numbskulls. In five vignettes that take place over the course of a day, the two friends encounter, discuss, and solve a series of ridiculous problems. What is the secret to buoyancy in the pond? "Suits that swim," of course: "Why do you think they're called swimming suits?" "Logical" next steps lead to the two turkeys sharing the halves of a plus-size polka-dot two-piece. As in the best tales of silliness, the far reaches of stupidity bump up against the borders of metaphysical wisdom. When the turkeys forget their names (remembering only that there is "a round thing in the middle...like a doughnut"), they face the existential crisis that without their names they are nobody. As Bob puts it, "Without a name I can't see the who in you." So they invent new names. You guessed it: Bob and Tom. A parallel overarching story of farmers trying to get their grain to market in a beat-up truck is told visually, and the two strands come together neatly as the friends "figure out" why the sun rises and sets. (It has to do with a flat tire.) This is a fine addition to the literature of nitwittery. sarah ellis