Word: Conundrum

 

conundrum

[ kuh-nuhn-druhm ]

noun

1. a riddle, the answer to which involves a pun or play on words, as What is black and white and read all over? A newspaper.

2. anything that puzzles.

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               Callie could feel her eye twitch. The rest of her so-called friends were wandering out the room, looking at the various items there. All while she did all the actual work. This involved pouring over the carefully carved words in the stone walls.

               “You know, this would be a lot easier and faster if you guys actually helped.” She said.

               The others did not even look up. “Yeah, but you’re so much better at riddles than we are.” Chuck said.

               Adam nodded his agreement. “You don’t want my help, trust me, Cal. I’m likely to get the wrong answer anyway.”

               Shirley picked up a random object. “I’m helping.” She said. “I’m gathering clues from the various objects around the room. Scouting them out, taking inventory. That sort of thing.”

               Callie did not believe Shirley for a moment. But at least the shorter girl was pretending to do something productive. The guys may as well not even have been there. She stuffed the urge to hit them deep down and went back to the riddle. Some nonsense about colors, letters, and numbers. She had thought it was obvious, but her initial ideas had all lead to dead ends. Now she was forced to pour over each word with a fine toothed comb, trying to parse out even the slightest bit of meaning.

               “Well, if you’re not going to help me find an answer to this, you could at least get to work on some of the other puzzles.” She said, only avoiding speaking through clenched teeth with an effort of will she was not aware she possessed.

               “Uh, like what?” Chuck asked.

               “I don’t know, look for a key or something. Or a combination lock. Something to start actually being productive with.”

               “Oh, right. Yeah, I can do that.” The big man said. He did not make any move to actually start an earnest search.

               “And you.” Callie said, pointing at Adam. “Look for anything with a keyhole in it. That way if someone finds a key, we have some ideas on where to use it.”

               “Uh, right. Sure. I think I can handle that.”

               To his credit, Adam actually did start looking. That was more than she had hoped. She turned next to Shirley, who gave what was probably meant to be a helpful smile.

               “Just…just keep looking for anything helpful.” Callie said with a sigh.

               “Okay!”

               With her friends, or at least most of her friends, occupied, she went back to the riddle. No matter how she spun it, it was meaningless. She occasionally asked one of the others if a number meant something, or about a color in a significant place. But none of them yielded any results. She let out a growl and ground the knuckles of one hand into the palm of another.

               Chuck came over and placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. “Hey, come on, it’s not that bad. Take a break and look at something else. Maybe I should take a look at it?”

               She turned sharply to him. He just looked at her and grinned. She sighed.

               “Fine, fine. I’ll go look at one of the other puzzles. But don’t bust your brain about it. This is a hard one.”

               Chuck spend a few minutes looking at it, then pulled out his phone. He looked at the stone words and typed a few things out. Callie, meanwhile, went to work on a small puzzle cube. That was more up her ally, and she went to work solving it.

               “Red herring.” Chuck said eventually.

               “What?” Callie asked.

               “That’s what it is, red herring. See? All the letters are part of those words, and all the numbers turn into other letters, and the colors all start with one of the letters. It spells red herring.”

               He showed her his phone screen. He was right. She hated to admit it, but he was right. Her eye twitch came back. She had spent almost fifteen minutes trying to piece together a clue meant to waste time. A low rumble formed in her throat, before erupting as a scream of frustration and anger. She even threw the cube at a nearby wall. Then she plopped down in the middle of the room and crossed her arms.

               “Uh, Callie, you okay?” Adam asked.

               She glared at him, refusing to elaborate. He seemed to accept that as an answer and went back to the puzzle hunt.

               Shirley sat next to her. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We all get distracted sometimes, you know? And it’s not something super important either. It’s just a game, right? So cheer up and help us look for stuff. We’ll get out of here, go get some ice cream and laugh about it.”

               Callie had to admit that did sound good. Especially the ice cream part. She sighed and stood up. “Fine, fine. Let’s get back to it. Hopefully the next thing isn’t put there just to mess with us.”

               And with that, she resumed the search, pointedly ignoring the words written solely to taunt her. 

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I once did an escape the room thing. I wasn't super helpful, I'm afraid. My group did get out before time was up, so that's good. Not something I'll probably do again though.

Word: Aver

 

aver

[ uh-vur ]

 

verb (used with object), a·verred, a·ver·ring.

1. to assert or affirm with confidence; declare in a positive or peremptory manner.

2. Law. to allege as a fact.

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Ted’s hands were sweaty as he ate. His heart beat fast and he felt sweat drip down the back of his shirt. His announcement would probably not go over well. Not in this household. But it needed to be done. And he needed to say his peace with as much confidence as he could muster. That was not a whole lot, but it would have to do.

His family were focused on their meal. Dad had managed to catch a deer, which was now serving as their dinner. Better than the squirrel casserole they had eaten last week, that was for sure. The slabs of venison meant that they were not focused on him, giving him time to bury his nervousness as deep as he possibly could.

               When dinner was coming to a close, he knew it was time. Or at least, the moment was as good as he could ever make it.

               “Everyone, I’ve got something to say.” He said, sitting up straight and trying not to show how he felt.

               Mom was the first to respond. “What is it, Teddy?” She asked as she started to clean the table, along with his little sister.

               Ted took a deep breath. “Mom, Dad, I know how you two feel about me and how I live my life. I know you both want me to live my life good and well and all that. And that you two have a lot of ideas about how that should happen.” This next part was the big one. He mustered up everything he could. “Well, I’m going to tell you now that all those plans aren’t for me. I’m going to go to college. I’m going to get an education and make something bigger of myself.”

               And with that, it was done. The announcement made, and the news delivered. Now he just needed to deal with the fallout. His parents were silent as they contemplated what they had just been told. Little sister Took the opportunity to bow out. She would stay near though, watching and listening. She would likely use this conversation to dump on him later.

               “No.” Dad said simply.

               “Dad?”

               “I said no. I’m not going to let my son be brainwashed in one of those so called placed of ‘higher learning’. You go to one of those places, and you’ll come back gay or something.”

               “Okay, first of all, I’m definitely not gay. Second, so what if I was? And college doesn’t change people’s preference for romantic partners. It’s about education. About getting life experiences and getting a leg up in the job market. I’ll be able to get a better job and really make my way in life.”

               “You don’t need it.” Dad said. “It’s a waste of time and money, and won’t get you anything you don’t already have. You’re going to follow in my footsteps anyway. Being a builder is a good, respectable job and our family has been doing it for generations.”

               “Well maybe I don’t want to be a builder. Maybe I want to design the building. Maybe I want to be the one the building is for. Maybe I don’t want to break my back for minimum wage.”

               Dad slammed his hand on the table. He finally looked Ted in the eye. “I. Said. No. No son of mine is going to sit behind a desk for the rest of his life. That’s all college will lead to. That’s my say, and that’s final.”

               “I’ve already submitted my applications.” Ted said. “And If I’m accepted, I will be going. I don’t even need your help paying for it. I’ve got a dozen scholarships lined up. I’ve been saving all the money I’ve earned since I got a job. I will go to college.”

               “You’re my son and you will do what I tell you to.” Dad said. He spoke not in a yell, but in a low growl. That was far worse than had he yelled. “And I’m telling you that you will not go to college.”

               Ted leaned forward, trying to get the knots in his gut to untangle. “Yes. Yes I will. And if you try and stop me, well, I’m not sure what I’ll do, but I guarantee you’ll like it a lot less than a few years of education.”

               The two of them stared at each other. Neither willing to give ground. At least, that’s what Ted hoped he looked like. He certainly did not feel as confident as he tried to act. The staring contest was broken when Mom came into the picture. She did it by slamming a bowl of bread pudding down on the table between them.

               “Now, now, there’s no need to be up in arms over this. We can talk about it later. For now, I’ve got dessert all set. It’d be terrible if it was spoiled by bad blood between family, right?”

               Both of the men grumbled something like an agreement. Dad leaned back and crossed his arms, avoiding eye contact with everyone else. Ted sat bolt upright and gripped the side of his chair with a white knuckle grip. His continued to look calm and composed, but his mind was roiling with what had just happened.

               All in all, it went better than he had expected it to.

*********************************

Getting an education is important. College might not be for everyone, but there's lots of other ways of learning out there.

Word: Sidh

 

sídh

or shee

[ shee ]

 noun, plural sídhe [shee]. Irish Folklore.

1. a mound or hill in which fairies live.

2. a fairy.

3.sídhe, the race of fairies.

  ***************************

               Two people walked up onto the hill. One was a man in his 30s, the other a boy not even ten. The man carried a large cooler at his side, while the boy awkwardly carried a smaller one. The two of them got to the top of the hill and the man set his load down, taking a moment to look at the field, one of the few places in Ireland that had not seen the touch of industrialization. His boy stood by his father’s side, looking at the rolling grass, but found little of interest in it.

               The man placed a hand on his son’s head, then got to work, setting out a blanket to lay on and food for their picnic. The boy watched eagerly at the array of food, until the man did something odd. He took two wooden bowls, one was filled with honey, and the other his poured a bit of cream into. Then he set them aside, off the blanket.

               “Dad? What’re those for?”

               “Those are gifts, son. Gifts for our hosts.”

               The boy scrunched his nose and looked around again. There was nobody around, and certainly no buildings. He looked up at his father as the man finished unloading the food.

               “Son, do ya know what kind of hill we’re on?” The man asked, instead of answering the boy’s unspoken question. The boy shook his head. “This is a very special place. The kind of place that’s getting’ rarer and rarer these days. This is a place where fairies live.”

               The boy’s eyes opened wide and he sucked in a long breath. “Fairies? Really?”

               “Oh, aye. They live all around here. And since we’re trespassen’ on their land, it’s only polite to leave somethin’ for ‘em. To show we don’t mean any harm.”

               “Will the fairies be eatin’ with us then?”

               “No, son, they won’t. They’ll come out when we’re done and gone. They don’t much like bein’ seen by us men. So, they’ll stay hidden wherever it is fairies hide until they know we can’t see ‘em.”

               “Have you ever seen one?”

               “No, of course not. I just told you they don’t like to be seen.” The man said like a slight laugh. “But I know they’re there. Come up here enough and you learn to feel ‘em. Tell they’re around, even if you don’t know where they are. Now come on, let’s eat up. Anything you don’t eat, we can leave as more gifts. If not for the fairies, then the other animals that call this place home.”

               The two sat and ate. The father told his son the tales of the fae, and the boy eagerly listened, young eyes shining with joy with each story his father told him. Sometimes the man would pause and close his eyes, taking a deep breath. He said that was when a fairy was watching closely, although remained hidden.

               When they were done, they packed up everything they could. The man set out a small bolt of cloth and placed a small pile of leftovers on it. The two then left the hill with a much lighter load. When they were out of sight, a tiny head, smaller than the boy’s hand, popped out of the grass. The figure carefully watched the direction the two humans had left. When the being was sure he was alone, he bowed slightly in the father’s direction. Then he sat and began to eat the offerings. It was good to know that humans had not completely abandoned the fairies. 

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Remember, if you suspect there's fairies about, treat them nicely. For one thing, it's just the polite thing to do. For a second, fairies are not always friendly creatures, so it's best to stay on their good side whenever possible.