What sports team does he root for? Does he wear a watch and what kind? Some of these things can change over the life of the series and that, in itself, can constitute part of the story. A car is important — especially in Detroit. For some reason, I got it into my head that Mulheisen was not particularly interested in cars. That makes him unusual in Detroit, where every kid grows up knowing just about everything about the new models, the old models, the companies that make them. In my new book, LA DONNA DETROIT, there is an extended disquisition on this subject, how for many kids their loyalty can be determined for life by where their father, mother, older siblings, uncles and aunts, are employed. Some families are Ford families, some General Motors, or more specifically, Pontiac folks. My dad, for instance, worked for Pontiac for many years, but he never owned one. He liked Buicks. But even before that, he had a certain loyalty for Chrysler products, because he spent his first twelve
