There is a squirrel we know named Friendly Squirrel Half-Tail. Friendly Squirrel Half-Tail lives in Central Park. We see him just about every time we go, and we recognize him because of, you know, that half-a-tail thing.

It’s funny . . . I don’t recognize people I see every day, I wouldn’t recognize a celebrity on the street if he or she bit me on the face, but I recognize an individual rodent. He doesn’t even have to bite me on the face.

Not that he would; he is, as you might expect from his name, quite amiable. Usually squirrels run away from Goblin, but this one comes toward us. “Hello, hello!” he says. “Happy to see you!” That last is sometimes less intelligible, uttering it as he does while leaping from between my dog’s jaws as they snap shut.

What happened to the other half of his tail is not really a mystery for the ages.