looks at herself in the visor mirror and reapplies her lipstick, moving the brassy tube around and around and around her thick red lips, getting ready for the next scene. "Okay, everything's fine now," Mort announces as he gets in, transferring tuna vomit from his shirt to the front seat. We are halfway to Camp High Peak, three hungry birds in a wobbly nest, imprinting on an ostrich with his head in the sand while a wild hyena nips at his tail. About Nancy Bachrach Nancy Bachrach worked in advertising in New York and Paris, spinning hot air like cotton candy.  Before that, she was a teaching assistant in the philosophy department at Brandeis University,  where she was one chapter ahead of her class.  She lives in New York City. Author Q&A Q: You worked in advertising. For how long? We're all imagining three-martini lunches a la Mad Men. Was this your experience? A: Before I got into advertising, I taught philosophy, but I was barely a chapter ahead of my class, and it didn't take me long to realize I wasn't serious enough for academia. A friend suggested I try advertising because it was "a business of ideas." That sounded like fun, and it was, even though the ideas were mostly small. I worked on everything from denture adhesives to Star Wars , and during my thirty years in the business, I did witness a few liquid lunches. But if I'd drunk my way through them, I wouldn't have