Bad Cold by Shel Silverstein

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  This cold is too much for my shortsleeve. Go get me a Kleenex--and fast. I sniffle and wheeze And I'm ready to sneeze And I don't know how long I can last.... Atchoo--it's to wet for a kleenex, So bring me handkerchief, quick. It's--atchoo--no joke, Now the handkerchief's soaked. Hey, a dish towel just might do the trick. Atchoo--it's too much for bath towel. There never has been such a cold. I'll be better off With that big tablecloth, No--bring me the flag off the pole. Atchoo--bring the clothes from the closet, Atchaa--get the sheets from the bed, The drapes off the window, The rugs off the floor To soak up this cold in my head. Atchoo-- hurry down to the circus And ask if they'll lend you the tent. You say they said yes? Here it comes--Lord be blessed-- Here it is--Ah-kachoooo--there it went.

Revelation (of sorts)

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One common feature of a university campus is the book-sale: some arranged in a list and posted (and frequently re-posted) on bulletin boards; while others are physically displayed in some fashion whether in boxes or outside offices, on shelves.

A daily routine frequently brings me by one of our seemingly permanent book-sale fixtures here on campus. Today, one title caught my attention so I picked it up. This is not the kind of book that would usually interest me, but today I could not keep my hands off--today the book was nearly irresistible. I picked it up, impressed by it’s hardback the relatively good cover condition. I flipped it open.

An entire page was underlined. I turned a few pages. More underlining—entire pages. I thumbed through the book to discover that some reader had meticulously (or perhaps not so much so) underlined the entire book as it was being read. Reaching the end of the book, the glaring omission of underlining suggested to me that these few pages had been completely ignored.

Curiouser, I noticed through my flipping that nearly every colon used by the author was circled by the reader.

A creeping feeling came over me and I re-shelved the book. I may have absent-mindedly wiped my hand on my shirt.

My parting glace at the title was filled with hope that the previous reader got much out their reading. It must have been a revelation.  

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