Word Play

As a child I had a fascination with words. Just words. Loved them. I’d go to the public library wherever we lived a number of times a week and visit the large Merriam Webster 2nd International Dictionary, which almost always was set on its own stand in some place of honor. I’d open it up on occasion looking for a word I’d heard an adult use, but more usually just at random, and see what I’d find. Of course one word would lead to another. I knew it was time to end when I came, as I invariably did, to the entry for “Narwhal,” the unicorn of the sea. I’d look at the engraving, and then close the book and turn to whatever was next.

I had no idea where that word play might lead.

It was just fun…