Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 26

This is week 26 of Raven's Saturday Wordzzle Challenge. If you want to go to the begining to see how it works, go here. If you intend to participate, use the words for this week's challenge on your blog, and go over to Raven's and click on Mr. Linky to add your name. It's fun! Give it a try.

This Week's Ten Word Challenge include: exponentially, Nightshade, braces, impossibility, the beginning of time, barracuda, playful banter, delve, automatic, bewildered

Steven had a knee-jerk reaction to any form of playful banter. His life was completely compartmentalized, and always would be. Just look in his closet: he has 30 identical navy-blue suits. All his dress shirts are identical, pale blue, crisp cotton. It was a complete impossibility to think he might enjoy the sort of romantic exchange that Julia was attempting. Steven's sarcasm grew exponentially the longer she flirted.

Julia was completely bewildered by his rudeness. He'd been completely different on the phone. On the phone, he was kind, he was thoughtful, he was even funny. But now, face-to-face, she finds that she braces for each nasty remark. She thinks "It's like he's been set on automatic pilot: be mean, even if it's easier to be nice." Steven is explaining how he treats his patients - he's a psychiatrist - and says "I never show them compassion. It invites them to indulge in repeating their bad behavior." His voice droned, making her drowsy. She suddenly felt like she was being poisoned by Deadly Nightshade and ticked off the symptoms: she felt like she was losing her voice, and she kept clenching and unclenching her fists under the table. She made a mental note to delve into the oddity of her reaction later.

She jerked her head up suddenly, realizing he's moved on to scuba diving. He was talking about an encounter with barracuda, and then telling her that she had to learn to dive if they were going to have any sort of relationship. Julia sighed. This was a dance that has been around since the beginning of time, and she didn't want to participate. She smiled sweetly at Steven before she extended her hand. "Steven, you are an absolute jackass. I know how to scuba dive already, which you'd know if you'd bothered to ask. Relationship? There's only room for one person in a relationship with you, and you're it. G'night." She stood up from the table and flounced out of the restaurant, quite pleased with herself.


And for the Mini Challenge: fragment, hemoglobin, insipid, flourish, juxtapose

Dr. Ferguson walked into his classrom with a flourish of his rain poncho. His students loved him, called him Fergie, which made him giggle. He was a big man, so listening to him giggle made everyone around him laugh as well. Fergie had an easy smile, and an Oklahoma Cowboy swagger. But he was a brilliant scientist, who taught doctors how to be doctors. His lextures were never insipid, and he would always juxtapose conflicting ideas; sometimes a mere fragment of a thought would get his students to explore new directions. Yes, they loved him, and he loved teaching. Fergie was just a big bear of a man, with a big heart, and a really big brain.

He began his lecture: "Today, we're going to investigate hemoglobin variants which lead to hereditary diseases. Mebbe one of you will find the cure for sickle cell anemia after I get done with y'all."

Yes, Fergie loved his job.