My friend Bob Cormier, author of "The Chocolate War," loved the words "summer afternoon." They evoked for him not just memories of summer but also the sounds of summer. The hum of lawn mowers, the clinking of bicycle chains, the ping of bats hitting balls, kids outside shouting, a carousel's calliope, the ice-cream man's bells. They evoked for him, too, the tastes of summer — fresh blueberries, fried dough, cotton candy…

We have been texting and e-mailing for one year now. I know this only because I printed out the first e-mail he sent and taped it in my journal. "On Aug 30, 2015 at 7:48 PM, Adam wrote: "I got my own computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Adam is my grandson. He was 11 then, and it wasn't a new computer. It was his mother's old one. But he was thrilled. And so was I, not because…