A lot of thinks are born into things late at night, while one is reading while drowsy. The results of this may be when you spin a globe and come across a small little country you've never of with a name like Yheckaladi wedged between two big well known countries. It's quite a hassle when people insist on reading non-fiction books in a half dreaming state.
It's also a hassle when librarians mix fiction books within the non-fiction section. People will choose a book under the genre of “non-fiction” and will put all their trust into the author and believe in anything without questioning. Supermarket tabloids cause enough problems as it is.
The Fixer has a cold, hard spot in his heart for people who don't pay attention closely. Lenny Femmer was drawing little stick figures killing each other in his notebook reserved for writing observations in science class when he tuned in and heard the teacher comment, “...moles eat insects.”
The bell interrupts the lesson and the teacher dismissed the class to go to the buses.
Lenny wondered how was it possible that he was able to go through all seven years of his life, not knowing that moles could eat insects. He made his mother go into the bathroom later that night to make sure that there weren't any spiders in the bathtub. After his bath, he scrounged around in the linen closet for any bandages but found an old can of mosquito spray instead. He doused every inch of skin that contained a mole with the spray. He applied an extra generous layer on one particularly large mole on his arm and his mother promptly made him take another bath.
The next day in science class, the teacher kindly asked the students to take out their observation journals for they will be observing beetles. The class obeyed and Lenny sat on his hand that had the large mole near the wrist. All the other students excitedly shouting off the names they were bestowing upon their beetles. Lenny sat quite still.
The teacher told Lenny to take out his journal and to begin the assignment. He did what he was told. Lenny watched the beetle poke around in a small paper box filled with soil. The beetle got the edge of the box but could not climb up. He wrote this down. This satisfied Lenny.
But his content was short lived when he discovered that this particular species of beetle could fly. Like Murphy's Law, the beetle landed on Lenny's shirt and crawled his way down to the arm that had the mole on his wrist. The beetle slowly crept toward the mole, not knowing its pending fate. Half of Lenny was scared stiff as a dead hamster, the other half was simply fascinated.
The beetle did a little tap dance on Lenny's arm, as though it couldn't decide which way to travel. The beetle headed closer to the mole and like a black hole, it sucked the beetle in.
Lenny thought about calling the teacher for help but what words would he use? “A beetle crawled into my mole,” or perhaps, “There's a beetle that's traveling down my vein.” Before Lenny could decide what to say, he softly whispered, “Oh, damn.”
This word would have cost him fifty cents in the swear jar at home. His mother didn't like swearing, nonetheless it was his father who taught him how.
That fifty cent word was in response to the beetle still trapped alive and trying to break though his skin. It was like an invisible person was pinching his skin.
Name: Lenny Femmer
Location: Burnsville
Think: Misunderstood context of the word, “mole.”
Thing: Beetle sucked through skin pigment.
Status: fixed pending as is
Comments: So many multiple meanings for words, how do they all keep track? Purchased a new dictionary, apparently words change meaning or use becomes discontinued. Still, a good tool to have.