My Favorite Book

It's been a long day.  Those long days seem to be coming around more and more often lately.  I guess that is just what happens as you get older.  Not that I'm old yet, but still.  

The work that I am supposed to do so I'll maintain my GPA, the work that I should do to build my portfolio, the work that I will go to at 8 am tomorrow morning.... It all weighs on me.  It barrages me with a quickly growing list of people to call or e-mail, things to remember, things to read and things to research.  The list grows until I suddenly try to fight back.  I race through the readings, spend time with people and even make a few calls.  It is only a minor dent in the list, but a dent never looked so good.

So, I escape for a few moments.  I watch House with a friend then, after we've parted, I walk back to my room and pull a book off the shelf.  It is an old paperback that I got way back in middle school.  Its spine shows several clear white lines from where the book has been opened so many times.  This is my favorite book.

I turn to a page right in the middle.  I know this story forwards and backwards.  The page takes me straight to a conversation between the characters and the ref before a game:

"Are the edges on that thing sharp?" the spokesman asked, spying the general's axe.

"Razor," Badaxe replied haughtily.

"But he won't use it on anyone," I added hastily, suddenly remembering the "no edged weapons" rule.[...]

"Oh, I have no worries on that score," Greybeard responded easily. "As with all games, the crossbowmen will be quick to eliminate any player who chooses to ignore the rules."

I skim pages and read over the place where the "hero" accidentally becomes the teacher of an unlikely student then over to a conversation between that same "hero," a dragon, an exceptionally large woman and a scaly green guy. 

What gets me is the comedy of the book.  It makes me smile to read about all the unlikely situations that sound strangely similar to some situations where I have found myself, only minus the scales and the axes, in the not too distant past.  

I consider actually re-reading it for the hundredth time, but then I spot my to do list.  So much to do, so little time.  Maybe I'll read just a few chapters.  I practically have it memorized anyway.