The Word Eater

I have just lept far beyond the line of too much coffee (a lot eh?) AH!! I can't make it stop. My day of feeling riculously silly...has slipped into the brink of madness this evening. Strange combination of word parts keep combining into obscure and terrible puns...slow poetic prose has been over-caffinated into linguistic craziness; punctuated by the impetuous sending of words all over the place today. "Hello my name is....I am Spam." If I were into astrology I suppose I would blame being a Gemini right now...but that was about two and a half pots ago.

It's really quite a terrible time to be babysitting...hyped up and going fucking nuts. There is nothing to stimulate me - except - the freaking genius of children's stories. Really. I am quite into the one I just read...

"The Word Eater" by Mary Amato. I quiver at the title - then I read the back and kept these kids up WAY past their bed time to try to finish it. They cried and pleaded - "Please Auntie - let us sleep!" but the coffee said "NO! Not yet - be quiet and listen!" I was engrossed.

Children's books - when done right - are simply magnificent- like the taste of just chocolate. Read the back:

"Life is miserable for sixth grader Lerner Chanse at her new school. It looks like Lerner is destined to be a SLUG (Sorry Losers Under Ground) until she finds a magical worm that eats printed words instead of dirt. If Fip eats a word, that item simply disappears from the world - forever. Now that Lerner knows about Fip's magic, she has some big decisions to make. Should she eliminate crime? Or will destroying anything cause effects that she can't imagine or predict? Lerner discovers that extraordinary power brings extraordinary responsibility...but will she learn her lesson too late?"

How fucking great is that? It completely summarizes all my University readings nicely in one illustrated adventure.

I am jittery in my chair. I think that it is sexual energy mixed with caffeine mixed with a need to be mentally engaged right now...mixed with something else entirely (lunar cycles...the pH of water today...or the intake of sea bass...) Whatever the combination of variables are, tonight I am GOING CRAZY.

"To Fip, the magic felt like an earthquake. The paper underneath him was splitting apart, molecule by molecule, each part vibrating wildly. He screamed and waved his bristles. Entranced by the shimmering light...." Need I say more? Sigh.

The various levels of meaning to be found here are exciting me at every level of my being. It's the only thing I have...here drunk on coffee, waiting to be released from my duties, unable to articulate just how odd I feel today.

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Post-Script: I need to include something...so when I leave here I can read this, and remember this acurately. I cannot morally steal a child's book.

"Fip shuddered, bouncing around in the cocoon of her hand. What was wrong? Lerner's body was secreting her alarm chemical. Why was she flying around the room? Between her two fingers, Fip saw the spinning world."

Mmmmmmmm....