and if you want to imagine the future , imagine a boot ... no , imagine a sneaker , laces trailing , kicking a pebble ; imagine a stick , to poke at interesting things , and throw for a dog that may or may not decide to retrieve it ; imagine a tuneless whistle , pounding some luckless popular song into insensibility ; imagine a figure , half angel , half devil , all human ... slouching hopefully towards tadfield ... ... forever .