Pretty much every community has a grumpy person. When I was a kid living in New Orleans, I remember ours. He wasn't some mean, fat kid with an unchecked attitude and grudge against everybody. Our malcontent was an old man who was well into his 70s. Everybody in the neighborhood knew him, and all the children were terrified of him, including me. His name was Mr. Osa Lee.

He was a peculiar-looking man with reddish-brown skin. His bald head reminded me of a shiny billiard ball or a doorknob. Standing ...