Nothing rhymes with...
Laughter does not have to come from a major source. It could be ... relatively minor.
Standing on my tiptoes, I reached for a book on the top shelf of the half-price bookstore. I probably didn’t look graceful, but my curiosity about the book’s content kept me going. Its cover featured an orange with tears, an image I hadn’t seen since childhood. Realizing I was late for an important appointment, I knew I had to leave and reluctantly returned the paperback to the shelf.
A week later, I returned to the bookstore, standing again in aisle three, facing the same bookcase. There it was, just as I had left it, untouched, as if no one else had wanted it, or perhaps the store had unknowingly reserved it just for me.
Wedged between two other books, I had to tug and wiggle it free. The orange still adorned the cover, its tears cascading like rain. Yet, despite the emotional outpouring, not a single drop had left a stain.
I bought the dictionary for $6.99 because it includes rhyming words. If I’m a poet and don’t know it, I might find myself in the middle of a stanza, searching for a word with a similar sound to finish a line. Or, as a writer pulling an all-nighter, crafting a nail-biter on my typewriter. Perhaps I’ll need words for a song to sing all summer long that doesn’t come on too strong while jogging after a thrilling game of ping pong.
Unfortunately, as I flipped through the pages, I couldn’t shake the image of that sorrowful round fruit on the paperback cover — endlessly weeping — an orange that will never be a poet or write an award-winning song.
Because the book is titled “Nothing Rhymes with Orange”, I bet it wishes it were another kind of fruit, like a banana. Imagine it playing the piano in Havana while wearing pajamas. Now, wouldn’t that be appealing!
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