A very short conversation

 My father, who was also named Heber, was born on this day in 1924. Today would have been his 98^th birthday.

He died on Feb. 28. I mentioned his death in “A conversation from long ago” on March 3, 2021.

He was laconic.

When I was young, I asked him: “What is the secret of good writing?”

He replied: “Short words, short sentences.”

That’s what he said. If he’d been writing, he would have done something about the comma splice.