Gad

gad
verb, intransitive. To go around from one place to another, in the pursuit of pleasure or entertainment.

As soon as some members of her daughter's cadre of friends turned sixteen and got drivers' licenses, all of them began to gad about every weekend. They went to the mall, to sandwich and coffee shops, to each others' houses.... Sometimes they just drove around. Carla confessed that one Sunday afternoon, she, Jeanne and Debbie bought a pepperoni pizza, drove to an empty parking lot, and ate it in Jeanne's car during a downpour.

She understood it. She realized it sprang from their new independence, a result of their recently-earned ability to drive without supervision. Going out with friends, without having to convince an adult to enable the gatherings, was such a novelty at sixteen and seventeen, they still had not gotten their fill of it.

Fondly, she remembered her own college days. Somehow, she and her roommate and friends had filled their Friday and Saturday evenings, even though none of them had vehicles on campus, and none of them were old enough to go to the bars in the neighborhood nearby and drink. There was always something to do in the student union, and off-campus there were coffeehouses, where musicians and poets would sometimes perform. It had been a good time, and she hadn't missed her parents for a single minute.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Earmark

earmark
verb, transitive. To designate something, typically funds or resources, for a particular purpose. To mark the ear of an animal as a sign of ownership or identity. Also a noun.

Uneasy when she spotted the men near the cars, Marcia paused and observed them through the window in the stairwell door. Faintly, their voices sounded, echoing in the vast, underground space. After a minute or two, their voices grew fainter as they moved away from where she stood.

When she emerged into the garage, she caught a whiff of cigarette smoke. That told her that the men were just the temps HR had hired to drive today--not security. She wondered where the guards were. In the booth? If so, she had a problem.

Marcia glanced at her watch as she approached the cars. It was nearly nine-thirty. Yesterday, she had noticed both security guards in the lunchroom when she had stopped by to get a cup of vending-machine coffee. They weren’t supposed to be together, she knew, but discipline was lax at this company.

She walked purposefully toward the fleet, leased two days ago and earmarked for the motorcade this afternoon, trying to scan the shadowed distances of the garage without appearing to. Nervously, she fingered the key in her hand, wishing that her heels didn’t make so much noise on the concrete. It would only take a few minutes to enter the car, back out, and drive it to the exit. Once she reached the street, she knew she could get away. The windows of the rented vehicles were deeply tinted. If a garage attendant did see the car, he would not be able to see her at the wheel.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Dab

dab
verb, transitive. To press against something lightly with a piece of absorbent material in order to clean or dry it. To apply a substance with light quick strokes. To aim at or strike with a light blow. Also a noun.

Hunched over the worktable, Joshua dabbed at the plate and sourly considered his options. Priscilla had not only refused his proposal, she had refused it angrily. He had been so taken aback, he had not thought to ask her why. It couldn’t be his prospects, he thought. He was a journeyman printer now and could look forward to owning his own shop someday. He wasn’t bad-looking....

He put the rag down, then noticed his ink-blackened fingers. Was that it? His perpetually-stained hands? Surely Priscilla wasn’t so short-sighted as to reject him because of the marks his trade left on his body.

She was so neat and clean, Joshua thought as he wrestled the plate onto the press and clamped it. Maybe she feared that his hands would stain her clothes, her skin. Maybe he should forget her and find a woman whose standards would not be so ... petty.

He felt an agony of loss. How could he forget Priscilla? Whenever he saw her--on the street, in a shop--the sun itself seemed to blaze from her hair and eyes. No, forgetting her was impossible.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Cackle

cackle
verb, intransitive. To give a raucous, clucking cry (of a bird, typically a hen or goose). To make a harsh sound resembling such a bird’s cry when laughing. Also a noun.

Morose after her long night in the nearly-deserted office, Anna trudged the store aisles, wishing someone else would do the grocery shopping for her once in awhile. It got so old, so tiresome, week after week--the same choices, the rising prices. It was always different, yet it never changed.

She finally came to the end of her list and made her way to the checkout stations at the front of the store. A few more customers were there than there had been when she started shopping, but not many. She had her choice of registers, and when Erin smiled and beckoned, she chose hers. Her bad mood didn’t lift at Erin’s pleasant greeting, and she knew her glum reply wasn’t very polite. She just couldn’t seem to shake off her depression.

As Erin scanned the last few items, Anna heard the cashier at her back cackle, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the coolest of them all?” She saw Erin’s face crumple, then return to its usual bland expression with effort. It was as if Anna had been waiting for that inspiration all night, and perhaps she had. A profound belly-laugh gripped her and she let it take hold, let it out as she counted money, handed it to Erin and watched her count out the change. She was still laughing aloud as she put her purse away and pushed the cartful of sacks out the door to the parking lot.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Babble

babble
verb, intransitive or transitive. To talk rapidly and continuously in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way. To utter something rapidly and incoherently. To reveal something secret or confidential by talking impulsively or carelessly. Also an adjective or noun.

After the crash echoed through the building, he rose from his desk and went in search of its cause. It had sounded as if it came from the warehouse at the rear of the shop. As he approached that area, he joined a stream of others from the front offices, all babbling at once.

He did not join the chatter. He was thinking about what could have caused a noise loud enough to startle everyone in the front of the building. Nothing but silence had followed, and if anything, that was more ominous than the crash. He hoped he would find only a spilled pile of merchandise or a crumpled wall panel that had been hit by a forklift: anything but an unconscious or injured employee.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Camp Ross Trails in the Queen City Discovery Blog

I ran across the Queen City Discovery blog while surfing. The link below is about the old Girl Scout camp where I spent a few weekends with my troop in the early 1960s. Those campouts were the inspiration for the title story in my anthology: Decision at Camp Ross Trails, and Other Stories, published for the Kindle -- http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007EDBNIO -- and on Smashwords for all other e-readers -- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/175357 .

The place changed a lot after it was closed in 1989, but the 2005 photos on the Queen City Discovery post brought back a lot of memories nonetheless.

Queen City Discovery: Camp Ross Trails

Ann Witz's 1999 photos give a better idea of what the camp looked like in its heyday -- http://camprosstrails.intuitwebsites.com/index.html

Abandon

abandon
verb, transitive. To give something up completely. To discontinue a scheduled event before completion. To cease to support or look after someone. To desert. To leave a place empty or uninhabited, without intending to return. To leave a vessel or vehicle decisively, as an act of survival. To condemn someone or something to a specified fate by ceasing to take an interest in or look after them. Also a noun.

Even though it was nearly noon, the light filtered through the dust on the windows was dim. Hal and Sophie paused just inside the door and looked around. Chairs were pushed away from desks as if their occupants had just gotten up to take a break. Piles of papers still filled inboxes. Hal could read the heading of the blotter calendar on the nearest desk: May, 2003. The dust roused by their entrance hung and swirled like mist.

“They abandoned this place a long time ago,” Sophie said. “I wonder why they never came back and packed any of this up.”

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Hal told her as he advanced to the desk with the calendar. He stood looking down at it, not wanting to sit in the long-unused chair. He hoped the calendar would furnish clues as to why the staff had suddenly left one day and never returned. Experience had taught him that calendars couldn’t always be trusted. People got busy and forgot to tear off the top page when the month ended. Hal had done it himself. There was something scrawled on the nineteenth day, however. He stooped and squinted. Reluctantly, he wiped the dust aside with the side of his palm, trying not to add it to that already thick in the air. “Hargrove 2:30,” was all it said. He read it aloud and was surprised when Sophie gasped.

“I know who that is!” she cried.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Zag

zag
verb, intransitive. To make a sharp change of direction. Also noun. Origin: shortening of zigzag.

She knelt on the ground beside the bed. The pole bean seeds she had planted only four days ago had not only sprouted, they already had true leaves. She smiled. She was glad she had decided to try that variety: Kentucky Wonder. The first time she had planted them had been a revelation, and she had stuck with them ever since. They had climbed, flowered, borne beans and climbed some more. She had picked, eaten, frozen, and canned right up until a hard frost killed the vines, through the droughty, rainless summer and into autumn. Rarely had a cultivar impressed her so much. Now she unwould a length of jute twine from the spool and lashed it around the post at one corner of the bed. She stretched it to the post at the far corner and attached it there. She stood and knotted the free end of the twine to the horizontal she had just strung. She began to wrap twine up and down between it and the cord that ran between the posts at head height, guiding it so it zagged a few inches to the right every time it wrapped a cord. It didn’t take long before a loose trellis was suspended above the little plants. She knew she would have to help them find it, but once they did they would mount it with astonishing vigor. She grimaced at the uneven spacing and at the already-stretched horizontal cords that were closer together in the middle than they were at the ends. It wasn’t perfect, but it was cheap and it used materials she already had lying around. It would do.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Yabber

yabber
verb, intransitive. To chatter.

So much of life is nonsense: unproductive, using up time for no good reason. Commuting to jobs, whether in automobiles or on buses or trains, is a case in point. In many cases, the jobs themselves are merely ways of marking time until retirement and death. Even the things people do voluntarily fall under the heading of “Pointless.” The yabber of the schoolyard becomes the gossip around the worktable or the water cooler. The pleasantries exchanged outside the church after service are a step above that, but rarely refer to the lessons heard inside. A greeting to the pastor upon exiting, with the added comment, “Good sermon,” never fails to elicit surprise on his part. He writes it every week and delivers it with energy and verve, knowing that most of his flock won’t listen. Imagine his delight when he learns that just one of them has. It makes all the difference between his labor being “pointless” and it being meaningful. We were not placed here just to mature physically, reproduce, and die. Our minds are meant to grow, as well. They do so when we consider ideas that are not our own; when we exchange them with others and build upon them.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Xeriscape

xeriscape
verb, transitive. To landscape an area in a manner appropriate for an arid climate--requiring little or no irrigation or maintenance.

When they returned to the old place, they were astonished to find that in their absence, Nature had xeriscaped the yard. There was almost no trace of the lawn he had babied and nurtured for all the years they had lived there. It had been replaced by a patchwork of ground-hugging plants that bore no resemblance to grass, except in the sunniest areas near the road, where buffalo grass had sprung up. A collection of wildflowers that had never grown near the house before formed lush patches: Indian Paintbrush, Gaillardia, Black-Eyed Susan, Queen Anne’s Lace, Prairie Sabatia and what appeared to be a kind of wild Verbena intermixed with the bunch grass waved in the wind and made a kaleidoscope of color they had not known was possible.

“All that work,” he said. “Why did I bother?”

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Whack

whack
verb, transitive. To strike forcefully with a sharp blow. Special usage: To murder.

Every now and then, she would be seized by the urge to keep house properly. This urge would result in a cyclone of unaccustomed activity: sweeping, dusting, vacuuming, and carrying rugs outside so she could whack the dust out of them; followed by washing: every surface, top to bottom. The work was so intense that she rarely finished more than one room, and almost never felt the urge to pick up the cleaning where she had abandoned it previously. As a consequence, her house was never better than tidy, and usually much less than that.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Vacate

vacate
verb, transitive. To leave a place that one previously occupied. To give up a position or office.

The orchestra had just begun the movement he loved in the Dvorák symphony when he felt his phone vibrate against his chest. With a yearning regret that it never summoned him when he would welcome an interruption, he vacated his folding chair, squeezed Marcia’s hand, and hurried up the aisle to the grove of trees behind the amphitheatre, where he could talk without disturbing anyone else’s enjoyment of the music. It was Frey, the intern who had been assigned to watch the aneurysm patient come out from under anaesthesia. “Something’s wrong, sir,” the young man said. “He says he can’t hear and he’s panicking. An anguish more powerful than anything the lovely distant music could evoke seized him and he told Frey he would get there as soon as possible. He ended the call, turned his back to the orchestra and the crowd, and walked through darkness to his car. Long practice meant Marcia would understand when he didn’t return to his seat at her side. That was the reason the two of them always went out in separate cars.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Ulcerate

ulcerate
verb, intransitive. To develop into or become affected by an ulcer (an open sore).

Frank either worked full-bore or he didn’t work at all. He had never been a middle-ground kind of guy. On this particular day, he didn’t realize that the blister that had formed beneath his work glove had ulcerated until he felt an unaccustomed warmth inside it, pulled it off, and saw the blood.

“Not good,” he said.

Dale could see it from his station a few yards down the line. “Take a break, Frank. Don’t bleed on product.”

Indecisive, Frank shook his head. It was important to keep the line moving--they had been told so. The workers were spread thin as it was. He didn’t want to drop out for first aid and make the others take up his slack. The sore wasn’t that bad. It looked worse than it felt--a stinging, that was all.

He started to put the glove back on, then felt hands at both elbows. Dale and John--from the station opposite Dale’s--were at his flanks, pulling him back from the line.

“You gotta go take care of that, Frank,” John told him.

“But the line...”

“We’ll fill in. Go, before you get all of us in trouble.” John bobbed his head toward the glassed-in observation platform, high on the wall. No one was visible at the window. Not yet.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Tab

tab
verb, transitive. To mark or identify with a projecting piece of material. To identify as being of a specified type or suitable for a specified position.

The market was not too crowded this late in the morning. Most customers arrived soon after the gates were unlocked, stocked up, and left with plenty of time to get home and prepare a big Saturday-noontime spread with some of their purchases. Phoebe was pretty sure that the only ones still shopping were single people like herself, who slept late and had no one at home waiting for them.

She approached a stand whose vendor she had never seen before: an elderly woman, wizened and white-haired, who possessed that rapidly-moving, nervous quality some people display all their lives and never lose, not even with age. As she worked on her stock, she reminded Phoebe of a wren.

The woman was selling plants in four-inch pots. They were larger than seedlings, but still quite young--just big enough to be transplanted. Phoebe wondered what they were. None were blooming. Each pot was tabbed with a yellow Post-it, so she moved closer in order to read them. The labels each bore a price, below an incomprehensible name. Was it in Latin? Phoebe picked up one pot to study the plant’s form.

“He’s never going to ask you to move in with him, much less marry him. You might as well move on.”

Phoebe nearly dropped the plant, she was so surprised. She glanced from side to side, but the old woman was the only person within earshot. Phoebe squinted at her. Did she know this woman? Was she a heretofore-unknown neighbor who was in a position to have observed Phoebe’s wrangling and desperate ploys with Don?

No, she was certain she had never seen the woman before in her life, so what had prompted that statement? The woman’s face was impassive, cool. Her eyes were on her own hands as she fashioned something out of twigs, or handled a group of twigs. Phoebe wasn’t sure. She appeared to take a handful of dark-green stems and drop them on the stained wooden board before her, then bend slightly and gaze at the patterns they made when they fell. Phoebe began to feel breathless, almost dizzy. Then she began to doubt whether the woman had even spoken. What if the words had issued from her own mind? What did that mean? How could she be sure?

There was only one way to find out. “Why did you say that?” Phoebe addressed the vendor.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Sack

sack
verb, transitive. To dismiss from employment. To put into a sack or sacks. To plunder and destroy a captured town, building or other place.

When the news crews were finally able to enter the area, the video they aired was staggering: a swath of land half a mile wide--fields, suburbs, strip malls--looked as if a host of giants had sacked it. Topsoil and young crops had been sucked away, houses were reduced to splinters, rows of prosperous businesses were demolished, leaving empty slabs. Cars and trucks lay tumbled about like the toys of an unruly child, their bodywork so battered and their paint so scoured they appeared to have aged thirty years. Where the tornado had crossed roads, the asphault had been vacuumed up. When we saw that, we couldn’t help but wonder where those chunks had come down, for surely they must have fallen somewhere.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Rack

rack
verb, transitive. To cause extreme physical or mental pain to. To subject to extreme stress. To place something in or on a rack: “The shoes were racked neatly beneath the dresses.”

“What did I do to you to make you hate me?” Anna’s boss demanded.

Of all the things he could have said to her, nothing could have surprised her more. “I--I don’t!” she stammered. Whatever could have given him that idea?

“Then why are you trying to sabotage a million-dollar account?” he persisted.

“I’m not.” Even to her, her protest sounded weak and unconvincing.

“I can’t think of any other explanation for the way you’ve mishandled things....” He went on and she began to have trouble concentrating on what he was saying as she tried to review what she might have done with the Troy Pharmaceuticals account that was so objectionable. Only yesterday afternoon, she had talked with their marketing manager on the phone and brought him up to date on the production schedule. He had been cheerful when she rang off. Who had complained about her actions? And why?

“I’m dumbfounded that you would take this over and screw it up like this,” her boss was saying.

Racked with confusion and fear, she broke down.

“You told me to!” she cried, sobbing now. “You assigned me to take over that account.”

His only response was silence.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Quaff

quaff
verb, transitive. To drink something, especially an alcoholic beverage, heartily.

The moment he waited for--every day when he cultivated the fields in early summer--was the mid-morning break. He didn’t wear a watch. He waited until the sun was positioned just so in the sky, about two fingers’ width above the hickory tree of the east windbreak. That was break time.

He shut down the engine and climbed down from the steel seat, molded to cup a man’s behind and pierced for a little ventilation, but not padded. He would walk to the fence along the row he had just disced, looking side to side to assess his progress; thinking about the deep prints he was leaving in the fluffed earth the tractor had left hehind. When he reached the fence he would open the cooler he had left there in the shade, open it, and remove a quart jar of cold tea. With one swift, thirsty wrench he would remove the two-piece Ball lid, tip the jar to his lips, and quaff it, not pausing for breath until the contents were half-gone. He would survey the entire field then, letting the cold of the jar’s contents penetrate the palm of his hand, thinking about how much more he would cultivate before the long break he took for lunch. He sipped at the jar in this ruminating state, enjoying the dappling shade and sunlight, until it was drained. Then he would make sure the cooler was closed up before he trudged back to the tractor, started it, and resumed his toil.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Pace

pace
verb, intransitive. To walk at a steady and consistent speed, especially back and forth and as an expression of anxiety or annoyance.
verb, transitive. To measure a distance by walking it and counting the number of steps taken. To lead another runner in a race in order to establish a competitive speed.
“Pace oneself”: to do something at a slow and steady rate or speed in order to avoid overexerting oneself.
To move or develop something at a particular rate or speed.

Marcy had been shopping for fifteen minutes before she became aware of the man who was pacing her as she moved up and down the aisles. At first, she assumed it was just her imagination, but soon acknowledged that she had acquired a shadow.

Still thinking she could be wrong about him, she continued to consult her list and fill her cart, keeping the dark-clothed figure in her peripheral vision. He stayed about four yards away, stopping when she stopped, moving when she moved. Her sense of alarm increased, and she was glad there were so many people in the store.

What about the parking lot? She had parked some distance from the entrance and it had already been dark when she entered the store. Should she ask for the manager and tell him she wanted an escort to her car? Should she call Jim at home and ask him to meet her here? He wouldn’t be happy about that, but it would be preferable to having his wife abducted by a serial killer. She mulled her choices as she worked her way from Produce to Dairy.

In Frozen Foods, her patience snapped. She spun on one foot and looked directly at the man. He was ordinary-looking, in jeans, a t-shirt, with a jean jacket over that. He had dark hair and wore glasses. Even though the two of them were close to each other, he stared into the ice-cream case before him, refusing to meet her gaze. She stood her ground, determined to keep looking at him until he responded in some way. She studied the part in his hair, the pale cast of the skin on his face, the stubble on his cheeks and upper lip, the set of his mouth. If he did attack her later, she wanted to be able to give a detailed description of the creep.

He could only tolerate her scrutiny for one or two minutes. Suddenly, he turned away from her and hurried to the end of the aisle. It was only then that she noticed that he had no cart and nothing in his hands.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Oar

oar
noun. A pole with a flat blade used to row or steer a boat through water.
verb, transitive. Row or propel with or as with oars. Move something, especially the hands, like oars.

She glanced toward the overhead door. “Oh, no,” she murmured, then looked down at her clipboard again. Josh looked at the opening in turn, just in time to see the company president oar his way through the plastic strips that hung across the opening and pause, glaring at the workers who were stationed here and there in the vast space.

“Mrs. Anderson,” the president stated.

Josh’s companion sighed, lowered her clipboard, and approached the suit-clad man, who had not moved from his position. It was one of the ways he exercised power, Josh decided: summoning an employee to him instead of walking to her and starting a conversation while she continued what she was doing. By interrupting her work, he made her life a little more unpleasant than it would be if he had stayed in his office and issued a memo. Josh guessed that the executive was one of those people who can’t feel good unless he impacts another person’s life in some way--usually for the worse.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Nag

nag
verb, transitive. To annoy or irritate someone with persistent fault-finding or continuous urging. To be persistently painful, troublesome, or worrying to, as in “a nagging pain.”

He locked the car, then hurried down the street, pelted by rain. He was distracted; unable to ignore an uneasiness that nagged him. It convinced him that he had forgotten to do something important. The omission would be serious--he just knew it. Probably grounds for termination.

The light over his building’s entryway was burned out. He turned toward the feeble glow of the only streetlamp as he sorted his keys, feeling the dampness soak deeper into his clothes as he stood there, finally locating the door key by feel.

He heard a faint sound as he inserted the key into the lock and began to turn toward it when the blow struck the back of his head. Light flared inside his vision, then he knew no more.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Mangle

mangle
verb, transitive. To mutiliate, disfigure or damage by cutting, tearing or crushing. Possibly derived from an Anglo-Norman French word meaning To maim.

Lana tapped at the dressmaker’s door breathlessly, barely able to contain her excitement. She had rushed here after work after the woman had called and reported that the skirt was ready for a fitting. As she waited on the stoop, she recalled the day she had first come here, the precious parcel of fabric in her arms. “I bought this while on vacation in Scotland,” she had told the dressmaker. “It’s my family tartan.” She had felt reassured when Mrs. Abernathy lifted the folds of woolen cloth almost reverently, eyes alit with admiration. They had looked at designers’ drawings of skirt styles until she had settled on one. Abernathy had measured her, then she had left.

That had been three weeks ago: a long stretch to cut out and baste a skirt, she thought, but perhaps Abernathy was swamped in work. The office manager who had recommended her had praised her highly.

At last, the elderly woman opened the door and smiled as she invited Lana in. When they reached the studio, Lana recognized her fabric, made up into a garment that was spread on the big cutting table, but she didn’t recognize the garment. It was nothing like the gored, bias-cut skirt she had chosen. It was ... a toga? She wasn’t sure. She moved to the table and stared at it, trying to understand. Abernathy had mangled the beautiful plaid, reducing it to patches of irregular sizes and shapes, then reassembled them into a large, shapeless drape that Lana was certain she would never want to wear in public. Mrs. Abernathy picked up the ... garment ... and held it out to her.

“Go ahead, try it on,” she told Lana with an eager smile.

Lana took it, unsure where the neckline was; not knowing how to react. She looked at the dressmaker uneasily. Did Abernathy actually believe she had made the garment Lana had ordered? Had the woman gone mad?

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Lambaste

lambaste
verb, transitive. To criticize someone or something harshly.

The meeting broke up and the crowd that comprised the customer moved away to their cars, discussing their plans for lunch. She gathered her notes after a final glance-over and headed back to her office, pleased about all the information that had been exchanged and about all the plans that had been made. Everyone was going to make money when this project got rolling. As she walked, she began to smile.

Her boss was blocking the entrance to her room, glaring as she approached. She began to feel a foreboding. She paused when she was facing him. Before she could ask him what was wrong, he began to lambaste her:

“I can’t believe what you told them about those ads,” he cried. “I was struck speechless!” Mentally, she reviewed the few statements she had ventured during the meeting. She didn’t think any of the information she had volunteered had been erroneous--in fact, she was sure of it.

He went on: “I’m getting more and more frustrated with you. I’m reaching the end of my rope!” With that, he turned and charged down the hall toward his own office.

She watched him, her smile having fled along with her positive mood. She should have confronted him and demanded that he specify exactly what he thought she had done that was so wrong. Again, as occurred more and more often these days, she wondered whether this tirade was evidence of the onset of dementia. Should she call his wife and broach the subject? That might lead to worse problems for her. He wasn’t threatening to fire her--not yet.

She sighed and entered her small sanctum, knowing she would succumb to tears at some point, very soon.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Keel

keel
verb, intransitive. To keel over, of a boat or ship. To turn over on its side. To capsize. Of a person or thing, to fall over, to collapse.

The last thing one would expect to see in the woods is a massive, healthy hickory tree that had snapped off near the ground, then keeled over. It must have been eighteen inches thick. Hickory is tough wood. That’s why tool handles are made of it. Once seasoned, it’s impossible to drive a nail into it.

It’s not quite that tough while it’s still alive, but it’s not weak, either. Since the damage occurred during a spring storm, in tornado season, the conclusion is that a tornado touched down briefly at that tree’s location, did its work in a second or two, then retracted its funnel and moved on. The sound of that trunk breaking must have been nearly deafening, but no one was in the woods during that storm--no one but birds and animals.

The downed tree is a testament to the power of those storms. One lives through countless thunderstorms in a lifetime; numerous incidents of high wind. But not even hurricane winds reach the speed of winds in a large tornado. Such force is almost unimaginable. Whatever it touches, it breaks.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Hack

hack
verb, transitive. To cut with rough or heavy blows. verb, intransitive. To use a computer to gain unauthorized access to data in a system. To gain unauthorized access to (data in a computer). To manage. To cope. To ride a horse for pleasure or exercise.
phrasal verb. To pass one’s time idly or with no definite purpose, as in “hack around.” To annoy or infuriate someone, as in “hack someone off.”

When the sky began to clear, she was relieved. He had been in her way since first light, unable to till or cultivate because of the rain. Unused to her housekeeping routines and bored, he followed her as she swept and dusted, persisting even after she told him uncounted times that no, she didn’t need any help. He had resorted to re-reading an old issue of one of his stockman’s journals, but that distraction wore out by the time she called him for lunch.

She declined his offer to help with the dishes, leaving him sipping the last of his tea at the kitchen table. She noticed that the rain had stopped before he did, since she was standing at the sink, looking out the window. “Finally,” she heard him mutter, then his chair scraped and he brought his glass and placed it on the counter beside her. Without a further word, he left the kitchen by the screen door and headed for the barn.

Ten minutes later, she glimpsed him astride the bay gelding as they crossed the fallow field at a brisk walk. She knew he would be hacking the game trails that threaded the orchard and woodlot for an hour or two before returning to pester her again, and she relaxed. In another woman, her attitude might be taken as evidence that she was anxious for him to leave the house so she could call her lover, but that was not the case. She had held sway in this house with her own thoughts for companionship for so many years that she had stopped longing for that of another person.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Jab

jab (jabbed, jabbing)
verb, transitive. To poke roughly or quickly, especially with something sharp or pointed
noun. A quick, sharp blow, especially with the fist. A hypodermic injection, especially a vaccination. A sharp painful sensation or feeling.

The guineas were loosely scattered about the yard in the dawn light, almost ghostly in the overgrown grass. As always, the flock stationed one of their number as a guard, head raised and constantly turning, alert for predators or any other threat. While the watch-guinea was on duty, the others were free to forage, moving systematically across the ground, jabbing their beaks at the turf wherever they spied evidence of insect life.

It didn’t take much for the guard bird to raise an alarm: a cat stalking nearby would do it. Once the guard spotted it, the chorus of “buckwheat, buckwheat” would start, increasing in volume as every guinea in the flock took up the cry. The flock would move closer together and often would approach the marauder, facing it and baffling it with their chorusing call and their mass of wriggling, soccer-ball-sized bodies. Was this how these birds’ ancesters had learned to survive on the African savannah? Did they develop this intimidating technique to face off a lion?

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Illude

illude
verb, transitive. To trick, to delude. From the Latin illudere “to mock”

She sat at her aging computer and fumed. Things had come to a pretty pass, hadn’t they? She was more annoyed with herself than with anyone or anything else. The bright promise of technology had proved to be a cruel bait-and-switch for one who lived so far outside urban areas. She had allowed it to illude her into thinking she could start and run a profitable business in her living room, while wearing a caftan and a pair of flip-flops. She should have known better. For the twenty years she had lived here, the electronic “hole” of her location had been a given: the sheriff’s radio didn’t even work here. She was lucky she was able to get satellite television. Thinking she could get 4G LTE service from a wireless internet provider was--and would remain--a dream.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Harangue

harangue
verb, transitive. To lecture (someone) at length in an aggressive and critical manner
noun. A lengthy and aggressive speech

He fetched a profound sigh as he finished reading the poem, and set the book aside as he raised the paper cup to his lips and sipped. Wordsworth and fine coffee in the early morning. In the park. What more could a young professor want? The weather was perfect, there was no one about to interrupt him, and later this morning he would take charge of his first class of upperclassmen. Graduate school was behind him, his dissertation had been published, and he had already made respectable progress on a new book--a critical work on Cowper.

He sipped again and nodded. This was his time to blossom into the kind of teacher he had always aspired to be: one who would awaken a passion for poetry and literature in his students equal to his own, not one who got bogged down in haranguing them about missed concepts and late assignments. He cringed when he remembered the freshman class he had taught last year. What a pack of laggards! If there had been one bright mind in that bunch, he could have done so much better, but every one of them thought of nothing but eking out an average grade--no better--so he or she could move on to the classes that would ensure a high salary after graduation. Culture? Who needed it? Fine language arts? Useless.

As the old, familiar feelings of panic and desolation stabbed him, he drew the battered volume near his face again, set the cup down, and thumbed the stained edges of the pages. He had to regain that euphoric feeling of anticipation he had experienced only a few minutes ago. He had to incorporate it into his being before he faced his class, or this would be another lost year--he knew it.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Gabble

gabble
verb, intransitive. To talk rapidly and unintelligibly. To utter meaningless sounds.

She knew a stranger was approaching because of the gabble of the guineas as they hunted ticks and insects in the pasture across the road. They rarely sounded an alarm when one of their owners, or she or her husband was moving around outside. That reaction was reserved for the unknown: something or someone who might pose a threat to the flock.

She had learned to rely on the big birds’ judgment. Anything they considered alarming might turn out to be dangerous to her. Slowly, so as not to show any movement that could be seen from outside by someone approaching the house, she arose from the desk and moved to a window that was shielded by a sheer curtain. She didn’t approach the door; she knew it was locked. Age had rendered her paranoid, and even though the road past the house was rarely travelled by anyone outside their tiny community, she had begun to lock herself in the house when she was there alone, and to check the locks several times throughout the day. Every couple of months, you heard of a rural home invasion on the news, and you never knew, did you?

When she recognized the grizzled face of the man coming up the drive, she shuddered, then pressed her lips tightly together and tried to regain her self-possession. When had he gotten out? Why had no one called her?

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Fabulate

fabulate
verb, transitive. To relate an event or events as a fable or story.
verb, intransitive. To relate untrue or invented stories.

Detective Carson looked up from the report he was reading and glared at the rookie.

“I can’t believe you said such a thing to him,” he barked. “You were leading him. Didn’t they teach you anything?”

“I don’t think that’s true, Detective,” Officer Smith protested. “I felt it was important to establish the suspect’s wherabouts at the time of the murder. He was hesitating. All I did was suggest a list of choices.”

“That’s exactly what you never do!” Carson exploded. “If a suspect seems unsure of how to answer a question, you keep your mouth shut and wait. At all cost, you outwait him. The silence will make him nervous. Then, he’s more likely to blurt out something useful. Giving him suggestions does nothing but enourage him to fabulate. Once he starts doing that, our chances of getting the truth out of him diminish.”

Smith stared at his superior silently and, Carson thought, a little sadly.

“What?” Carson asked.

“Do you spend your free time reading a dictionary, sir? So you can intimidate people with words we’ve never heard before?”

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Envenom

envenom
verb, transitive. To make poisonous, to embitter.

She didn’t say anything for a long time. He forced himself to watch her; not to be distracted by the activity all around them in the café. It had taken him a long time to get up the courage to call her, then to meet her here. This time, he wasn’t going to give up until he had an answer.

When she finally spoke, it wasn’t an answer.

“Why did you come here?” she asked, her eyes still on her coffee mug. “What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you. I want you to tell me how you feel about me and why.” He swallowed, feeling the fear stab him in the stomach again. What he most wanted to do at that instant was leap from the spindly bentwood chair and run from the café and not look back, as if she was some vengeful fury who could pursue him through the air no matter how fast he fled. “I loved you. I still love you. I think we can put our relationship back together and go on; be stronger and better than before. But we have to be honest with each other before that can happen. I’ve done my part. Now, it’s your turn.”

She lifted her mug and took a sip. Her face twisted, as if his speech had envenomed the mug’s contents. She replaced it and put her hands into her lap. Still avoiding his eyes, she stated, “I cheated on you. I’m not sorry. We can’t go back to the way things were.”

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Dandle

dandle
verb, transitive. To move a baby or young child up and down in a playful or affectionate way. To move something gently up and down.

He kept his own counsel and simply observed her. She was her usual garrulous self, smiling and chatting about whatever popped into her head. His fascination was enhanced this time because of what she was doing: she had decided to dye her chambray skirt a dark indigo and was carrying out the plan in a fiberglass Sears utility sink. She caught his eye and launched into another slightly risqué story as she dandled the mass of fabric in and out of the inky fluid.

Later, he would be unable to recall a single sentence of the gossip she repeated; indeed, not a single word stayed with him. He was too transfixed by the sight of her ungloved hands, growing a darker shade of bluish gray each time they emerged from the dye bath, and the way the dark liquid sloshed up on the walls of the sink, leaving a stain behind.

As the skirt’s fabric took on the dye, he began to wonder how she was planning to transfer it from the utility sink to the clothesline outside. Surely she had a washtub. He pried his eyes away from her and her task for a moment to search the basement room, but didn’t see one. The only container vaguely suitable for what she would have to do was a plastic laundry basket--the kind with sizable holes pierced all over its sides--white, of course. His heart began to sink when he realized that the dye-saturated garment would be so heavy that she was probably going to demand his help to carry it to the line when she decided that the fabric was dark enough. He glanced down at his khaki Dockers and sighed.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Cashier

cashier
verb. to dismiss from an office, position or membership, usually in disgrace. (usually: be cashiered)
One mistake, that was all it took, she thought, glaring at her monitor unseeingly.

I made one mistake, and if this situation worsens, I’m liable to be cashiered for it, even after all this time with the company.

She thought about the conversation she had just had with her boss, which ended with him asking her why she would try to sabotage a million-dollar account. The accusation left her gasping in disbelief: “No! I would never do such a thing!” she had cried out in protest, trying but failing to quell her tears. "I love my job. I like you. I wouldn’t do that, ever!”

He had ended the meeting and she had returned to her own office then, bewildered and afraid. What happened? Where had it all gone wrong? Tears rolled down her face as she threaded a maze of memory, looking for the wrong turn, glad for once that her desk was positioned so that her back was to the entrance. She had just been removed from all responsibility for the most important account she had ever managed, and wondered how she would ever be able to redeem herself.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Balk

balk
verb, intransitive. hesitate or be unwilling to accept an idea or undertaking
verb, transitive. thwart or hinder; prevent an individual from having something

She was ready to go online and file their taxes when the statement from the pipeline company arrived in the mail. She was enraged when she opened it and began to read. There it was again: the most incomprehensible tax form she had seen yet. Why couldn’t it be straightforward? She had marvelled all year at the large dividends the stock paid--reinvested in more of the same, by her order. After doing the previous year’s taxes, she had vowed to sell the stock so she wouldn’t have to wade through the form and its twelve pages of explanation again. So much trouble for so little gain. But she had balked at the sale when she saw how much it was earning.

This is what greed gets you, she chided herself as she looked at one page after another. This piece of mail meant she had to start the taxes over. It infuriated her: hours and hours of work--gone. Thank goodness she did the task electronically. If she still filed on paper, she would be regretting lost days.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.

Introducing myself, Using the verb "Abase"

abase
verb, transitive. To behave in a way so as to belittle or degrade someone.

This is an attempt to start writing a specialized blog. To choose a vibrant word, write a brief piece on it and publish that online. What to say, what to say? I heard Anne Tyler in an NPR interview yesterday say that every time she sits down to write the same thing happens: she stares at the empty page and bewails the fact that her mind is a complete blank. Sh has to force herself to write anything. That’s enouraging. She is a much-critically-praised author of numerous novels, most of which I’ve read and enjoyed. If she has to put up with the empty-brain syndrome, I guess I’m not doing too badly. She said giving up writing is not an option for her. The act of writing itself is too entertaining and satisfying for her to consider “retiring” from it.

I was talking with someone the other day about the well-worn cliché of the advertising business: that every copywriter is a would-be novelist just putting in time at the agency to support himself until he gets the idea for The Great American Novel, the execution of which will facilitate his escape into a life of self-supporting ease--a life in the country, where he will arise and sit to his next tale, with periods of contemplation of the bucolic scene out his window, or a pipe, or coffee. No longer will he have to compromise by boarding the commuter train and spending his precious days abasing his genius to sell soap or cars.

Of course, that fantasy usually remains just that.

Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.