Story Go Round 02/12/2002, round 3, #2

Disassociative Word Pairs

The lawyer twigs had been gathered the night before, and now we set about bundling and labeling them. The festival was coming soon, and we were hoping that this time the hoarfrost would not be too severe. Julius couldn't sleep, for the bonfire tomorrow would be his first. When he told us what he saw that night we understood the dream elephant at once. It was huge. While the meaning was unfortunately murky, you could pack a lot of meaning in that trunk.

Julius paced around the wood pile, wondering if the briefs he had carefully organized would sway the crowd. He'd never given an oratory before, though he'd seen his big brother Felopius give it, and he had the gestures down. The first huddle of slaves came from the market, leading a cart, a vending cart. "Oh goodie," piped up Julius's sister, "ghost pickles." She dashed our to the street and ordered four before he could stop her. "Gunaika," he called, "you need more money for that," and spat out the denarii he had stored in his cheeks. Breathlessly reaching Gunaika, he handed her the wet coins and flopped down on the ground to rest. Gunaika got her ghost pickles , he got more cheek space. On a nervous whim, he bought a ghost pickle too, and stored it in the left cheek for later.

People were gathering, it was night-time. Donning his ceremonial gloves Julius lit the flame. A huge gasp went up from the crowd as goggle streams rose bitterly from the fire. "Run, Gunaika, run" he yelled, "and fetch three dogs to carry the briefs. He ran around the crowd handing out parchment copies of his speech, which were eagerly accepted. Few could read, but they made great TP. Julius started speaking, veins standing out, fire leaping behind him. Whenever he added another lawyer trig bundle to the fire there was great rejoicing. "Pope rodeo" they yelled. "Booger cardboard" [he?] would respond. His briefs removed he was ready for the Grande Finale of the evening - the ceremonial Paradox Batch to begin the Cheez Puff festival.




Amber is purple; John is pink; Alan is blue; Terry is orange; Eileen is green