atw: Dorothy in the Land of Oz: 2. By turns and options


THE STORY SO FAR ...

The PushmePullum survived a nasty fall and Dorothy lost her temper.


NOW READ ON ...
A brisk evening breeze whipped up, stars began to appear, and our intrepid adventurers made ready for the night.
Patoto and Dorothy found a sheltered hollow and settled down, with Patoto on Dorothy's lap. She complained uncomfortably that she would never get to sleep on the rough rocks, so Patoto began to sing doggedly, in a surprisingly sweet tenor soprano: 

    Little girl kneels by the side of her bed,
    Rests on her little hands little gold head.
    Hush! hush! Whisper who dares ...
'Oh, Patoto, you are a sentimental fool' murmured Dorothy tightly, hugging the dog closer. 

    Dorothy Alice is saying her prayers.
    'God bless Daddy, I know that's right.
    'Wasn't it fun in the bath tub last night? ...'

The song trailed away as Patoto too fell fast asleep.
The PullumPushme could only sleep by standing besides a king-size double bed (scarcely a commodity to be found on a steep mountain side) and then falling sideways on to it.
'What do you mean "PullumPushme"?' querelled Pushme. 'Oh don't start,' replied the Author finally, 'I am not going through all that with the Opportune Equality Commission again. You know that you have to alternate and today is Friday, so it's its turn.'
So, because the PullumPushme was at home in the mountains, it strolled about under the starlight as the others slept, sometimes turning over a stale controversy with a foot to see if there were any life left in it. Otherwise it grazed on subtext lurking in crevices, or metonyms clinging to the steep rockface. 

***
In the morning they breakfasted, then, while Dorothy made some mustard and cressfallen sandwiches for lunch, the Pushme announced hollowly 'Their is a sort of cave or tunnel at the back of the ledge. The rocks are worn smooth and there are footprints in the sandy floor.' 'There.' irritated the Pullum helpfully. 'The preposition /there/ is commonly used anaphorically with a locative expression as antecedent. It can also be used deictically.'
'They are homophones, so what does it matter in spoken speech?' retorted the Pushme. 'Well, you certainly heard /my/ spelling,' overweened the Pullum winningly.
'Anyway,' continued the Pushme, 'the cave could be an alternat ... ' -- sighting Dorothy's glare, it caught itself -- '... ive way down.' 


TO BE CONTINUED ...

--

Hedley Finger

28 Regent Street   Camberwell VIC 3124   Australia
Tel: +61 3 9809 1229   Fax: (call phone first)
Mobile (cell): +61 412 461 558   Skype: hedley.finger
Email. "Hedley Finger" <hfinger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


**************************************************
To view the austechwriter archives, go to 
www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter

To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 
"unsubscribe" in the Subject field (without quotes).

To manage your subscription (e.g., set and unset DIGEST and VACATION modes) go 
to www.freelists.org/list/austechwriter

To contact the list administrator, send a message to 
austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
**************************************************

Other related posts: