Picture me standing in line at the CVS, on the phone, chatting with David about the gripping conclusion to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. This older fellow, also on the phone, comes up to me and says, “Excuse me, how do you spell debris?” Upon realizing I’m on the phone, he whispers, “Oh no! I didn’t realize you were were on the phone!”
Without pausing, I wave my hand as if to say, “No matter,” and I spell, “D-E-B-R-I-S.”
He says, “I-S?” in disbelief, and I reply, “I-S” with confidence, and then he says “Thank you” and runs off.
David asks, “Who are you there with?” and I say, “No one, a stranger just asked me how to spell debris.”
Then I looked around at the crowded CVS line, as if to say, “Did you all see that?! Did you all see how I spelled something correctly? He could have asked anybody how to spell that word, but no, clearly he spotted me, accurately pegged me as someone with great acumen, and I delivered.”
I felt like such a rock star! No, wait, heroine, is probably a more accurate description. He looked pretty frantic when he asked the question, so perhaps the spelling was a matter of life and death, as it usually is. Good thing he came to me. The guy two spots ahead in line who was glaring at me for talking on my cell phone probably wouldn’t have been able to spell the word at all.
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