I guess what I will write below is old news to you:
In the book Wild Years by Jay Jacobs I read that when
asking Tom why it took six years to make Mule
Variations one would be likely to get all sorts of
answers, one of them being that what he had been up
to was "breaking in new shoes for people too busy to
do it themselves". I guess this is what inspired your
prose Ginsoakedboy? I am sure this quote is old news
to you, no?