Vonnegut strode over to the chalkboard and drew a vertical line. G is for good fortune, I is for ill fortune. Then he shrunk his body to point to the bottom of the line. The audience roared with laughter for perhaps the 20th time. Vonnegut placed the chalk stick at the middle of the vertical line and drew a horizontal line to the right.
E is for electricity.
People were slapping their knees in laughter. The horizontal axis was the story's timeline. Vonnegut drew lines that drooped and soared while he illustrated the good and bad circumstances of a few stories, like a Franz Kafka novel and Cinderella. He covered the chalkboard with scribbled story lines. He paused and looked at his audience quizzically.