Thursday, March 19, 2009

Thursday, March 19, 2009 - 9 comments

Quilly's Quivel

Last week I learned so many things, and one of them was what a "quivel" is. There seems to be some debate about this, but from a strictly etymological perspective it is a combination of "Quilly's "Three Word Thursday" words and the word "drivel." Quilly + Drivel = Quivel. It is no reflection on Quilly herself, naturally, because she comes up with some amazing words, the tools, so to speak, of the artist. It is the artist, in this case me, that produces the drivel, and we magically have quivel.

Now, the inventor of quivel, our dear Dr. John, has added the additional label of "poetry" to the exercise. What I submit to you is a poetic abstraction, my own unique interpretation of quivel, if you will.

This week's words:

  • sternutation: (noun) the act, fact, or noise of sneezing (a sneeze)
  • zoilist: (noun) A rude, nasty, or dishonest critic that enjoys finding faults in others.
  • anopisthograph: (noun) a manuscript, parchment, or book having writing on only one side of the leaves.

Rain in the Desert
The Fort Stockton Public Library had never been the center of social activity in town. Actually, it was usually as empty as a church on a weekday, except that the library was empty every day. It seemed like people were getting all their information off the internet these days.

All of that changed after they were featured in the local paper by that zoilist. His commentary was blistering, but they say that there's no such thing as bad publicity. Maybe it was because he had unreasonably insulted so many people over the years, but after the article came out, the library seemed to be overrun by people. Molly could hardly believe it.

Of course, there were things that were available in a library that couldn't be obtained on-line, at least not yet. There were irreplaceable old documents that couldn't stand the abuse of being electronically scanned. Besides, the image results were often less than desirable.

It just so happened that the Fort Stockton library had a few of these old documents that had been willed to them by some wealthy patrons. Mr. Rivers had said that they weren't up to his high standards, but Molly knew libraries that would sell their eyeteeth for them.

That must have been what brought in their strange visitor. Fort Stockton isn't a very big town, about 7,000 people (though that could be considered quite big compared with many towns in West Texas). However, it was easy to identify strangers. It was about three weeks after the article was published that he came in asking to see the manuscripts.

She set him up at a large table in the back. He had been coming every day for a week. He even asked if she would come in on a Sunday. It was unusual, but she didn't mind seeing how he was so keen.

There was a sudden loud noise from the back that disturbed her reverie.

After hearing the sternutation, she said, "Bless You." Then after a pause, "You know they always come in threes." Before the words were out of her mouth, she heard the other two, along with a mumbled word of thanks.

Then, the librarian had a horrible thought. I hope that isn't the stranger that's working with the priceless anopisthograph. She shuddered at the thought of the spray from his sneezes covering the page. Perhaps, he covered his face, she thought. But then, the idea of his soiled hands manipulating the pages...

One would think with handling so many volumes, she wouldn't be so sensitive about contaminants that may come in contact with her books. However, she usually didn't have to witness it.

Oh well, she thought. I'm sure that they've had much worse on them than that. Just then, another bunch of children came in with their mother. Mr. Rivers might have been hateful in his commentary, but in the desert, rain is a welcome sight. She smiled and thought, Life is good.

9 comments:

Now that is a first class story. I really enjoyed it.

We dragons don't go much to librarys. The zoilist libraians are so afraid we might have a sternutation and burn up a priceless anopisthograph. That , of course, almost never happens.
The librarian in your story seems nice.

Very good story Cherie. Ah those librarians...what would we do without 'em

Cherie -- I don't know why the dragons had to tell me you were playing! You should have come over and said howdy! Dr. John and I weren't really fighting last week -- you knew that, right?

I'm hoping you knew that because someone else didn't and we had to go to her blog with apologies. Are apologies needed here as well?

Dr. John and I have been picking on each other for about three years now, but I love him dearly and think he's a wonderful man (of course, if you tell him I said that I'll have to deny it and if you show him this comment I will claim the Pigeon Falls poltergeist must have written it).

Anyway -- great story. I thought the old fella was going to steal the anopisthgraph for sure!

Life is good and so was your story.

Dr. John: Thanks!

Fandango: I can only imagine how danger of a fire breathing dragon in a library. The internet must be a godsend for you! (And thanks for letting Quilly know about my drivel.)

Thom: Yup! Those librarians keep us on the straight and narrow. :)

Quilly: I knew that you and Dr. John were just goofing-off. I actually was out of town on Thursday, but I still wanted to play. I thought about letting you know, but then I forgot. Sorry about that. but I'm ever so grateful to the dragons.

Nessa: Thanks!

P.S. I'll be by on Monday to check out the rest of your submitions! :)

For some reason I must have missed your story, it's a good thing you dropped by! I enjoyed it very much, you're a very good writer Cherie!

Jientje: I was on a business trip on the official posting day, so I couldn't comment over at Quilly's. The dragons helped me out. ;) But thank you for your kind comment. I'm glad you liked it.

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