Playing Wordzzle Catch-Up

I missed the past two weeks of Wordzzle and I felt bad about that. It's silly isn't it that when we feel down we tend to deny ourselves the very things that make us feel better.

I felt like the words I missed were being wasted, like throwing away perfectly good food.

So I used them all.

The words I missed 2 weeks ago: prefix, art festival, income tax, chicken noodle soup, jump rope, Dutch Treat, flowering plum tree, bats in the belfry, diamond earrings, tigers
Mini Challenge: book club, organic tea, the cow jumped over the moon, paragon of virtue, wench

The words I missed last week: preparation, tic-tac-toe, splurge, auction block, the bitter end, milk, papyrus, when the parade passes by, bill of lading, stone wall
Mini Challenge: polar bear, 20 seconds, get it together, spasmodic, antiquity

And this week’s words: acrobat; grocery store; ceiling fan; dandelion; bumble bee; alabaster; scissors; chartreuse; strenuously; cube
Mini Challenge: iPod; poison ivy; computer; interpreter; optometrist

Cavalier Chartreuse really needed to get it together. The preparation of her income tax return had revealed many hard truths. She had to give up her dream of being a yodeling acrobat and strenuously pursue a career path that would enable her to support herself; both her basic needs and her passions. The notion of being a corporate wench was painful to Cavalier. She had acquired strong computer skills at college and, thanks to traveling the world as a child, she had learned enough languages to allow her to intern as an UN interpreter. She had even taken courses to become an optometrist! The idea of helping people see had seemed romantic at the time.

Cavalier’s mother had always told her she had bats in her belfry. Her father had always treated her as if she were made of alabaster while being as irritating as poison ivy. She was never sure whether he would finance whatever fad she wanted to splurge on or give her one of his stone wall attitudes.

Thoughts of her parents always made Cavalier anxious so she headed over to the Tic-Tac-Toe Café. The café was run by her best friend and former college roommate Prefix Papyrus. When asked what kind of name that was he always said the same thing – “French, Egyptian and fabulous of course.”

The café was located on Plum Street in the Antiquity Village section of the city. The street began at the mouth of the harbor and ran for exactly one mile, ending at the entrance to the new expressway. A giant flowering plum tree and a huge sculpture of several crouching tigers marked the spot where an Asian brothel had been demolished to make room for the expressway on ramp. As impressive as the tigers were the spasmodic polar bears balloon archway at the harbor was the true landmark of the area.

It was a warm Friday evening and the street was full of tourists and locals enjoying the eclectic array of happenings. The weekly Craft Fair and Art Festival was in full swing. Cavalier walked slowly down Plum Street stopping to enjoy a group of teenaged girls playing a new jump rope game called ‘the cow jumped over the moon’. One of the girls wore long fake diamond earrings that caught the light as she jumped faster and faster. A second group of girls were exhibiting their version of Dutch Treat jumping, where pairs of jumpers switched in and out of the ropes with amazing precision.

Cavalier was exhausted, hungry and thirsty by the time she reached the café. Prefix greeted her with a huge hug and settled her into a small table by the window. “Great view for when the parade passes by” he told her. “Another parade!?” Cavalier laughed, “Will we ever run out of days to celebrate?” She toyed with the bumble bee shaped honey container as she looked over the new list of organic teas. “I think I’ll have the dandelion again” she told Prefix. “Are you going to ruin it with milk and a cube of sugar?” he asked. Cavalier assured him that she planned to ruin his virgin tea and asked for a bowl of chicken noodle soup as well. “I think I’m coming down with something” she told him, “might as well stack the odds in my favor now.”

Prefix tried getting the attention of his newest waitress who was leaning against the bar listening to her iPod and playing with safety scissors left over from the morning meeting of the Mommy and Me Love to Read Book Club. “I give it another 20 seconds” Prefix muttered behind his grinding teeth, “and then I’m going to hang her from a ceiling fan.”

Cavalier jumped up and went to the bar. She gave the sullen girl her order and warned her that the bitter end of her career, perhaps her life, was looming.

”Come work here” Prefix told Cavalier as she settled back into her seat. “You need the money and I need the help.” “I don’t think it would work out” Cavalier said gently. “Although it does sound better than cashier at the organic grocery store, that’s the only job I qualified for in this morning’s want ads.” Prefix slammed his hand down on the table. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner! My mother’s jewels are going on the auction block here. I need someone to go to Brussels and collect them. I was going to use a courier but the moment they mentioned a bill of lading I got a headache. You could do it for me; my mother will pay a fortune to get them here safely.”

Cavalier accepted without hesitation. Suddenly yodeling acrobat seemed mundane compared to international jewel thief. With her spotless background and sweet disposition she would become known as ‘The Paragon of Virtue’.

Go by RAVEN’S for more Wordzzle.