I have become a boss, a development I had spent a fair portion of my working life trying to prevent.

The position is on an interim basis. Help was needed, and I was in a position to offer some. This is how those who believe they have settled a question about their lives find out the question remains open.

For a brief period in my 20s, I was the managing editor of a small chain of Texas newspapers. The money was good. Nearly 40 years ago, my salary was almost what it is now. I decided it wasn't worth it and lit out for Arkansas and an alternative newspaper. I was young enough to believe that leaving an arrangement I disliked would be sufficient to establish an arrangement I liked. In this instance, it was.

With a couple of exceptions, I have mostly been left alone to write. There have been deadlines and editors and disagreements, and occasions when I needed someone to tell me that what I thought I had accomplished wasn't apparent on the page. Being left alone never means being exempt from judgment. It means being trusted to get on with the work, with an understanding of what is expected and some latitude about how to meet expectations. I have been fortunate in that respect, and perhaps less attentive than I should have been to the people whose efforts made that latitude possible.

Somebody has to worry about the things the rest of us assume are being taken care of. Somebody has to notice the gap in the schedule, listen to the complaint that may be justified even when nothing can be done about it, determine which of several needs can be met with the amount of time and money available. When........

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