When Eudora Welty first became ill, her doctor posted a sign on her door turning away fans in search of autographs. Welty, feeling guilty, added a handwritten apology, and was soon dismayed to learn that it had been stolen by a fan as a souvenir.

[Among Welty's fans was software developer Steven Dorner: "When I was looking for a name for my new post office protocol mail program," he recalled in 2001, "I thought immediately of the title of a short story I'd read years before: 'Why I Live At the P.O.'"]