I love an old story called “The Legend of Desert Pete.” According to the story, a man was walking across a desert in the summer of 1933. He was dying of thirst and desperately needed water. Imagine his relief and delight when he came upon a pump, right out in the middle of the desert. There was a baking-soda can tied to the handle of the pump, and inside the can was a note. The note read: “This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker-washer into it, and it ought to last five years. But the washer dies out, and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock, I buried a bottle of water. It’s out of the sun and all corked up. There’s enough in it to prime the pump, but not if you drink some first. So pour about one-fourth of the water in and let her soak to wet the leather.…