Monday, May 02, 2005

Go tell it

So tonight I'm reading the Boy bedtime stories ("The Magic Treehouse" again) and he says, "Mom, how come something scary always happens to Jack and Annie? In every book, something scary happens. Why is that?" So I explain the idea of having a beginning of a story, and then having something important or exciting or scary happen, and then having the story wind down and everyone goes home. "It's sort of like a mountain," I tell him, drawing the shape in the air, "and the important or exciting or scary part is the top of the mountain. It's called the...um...the..." And then I pause and try to think of the word "climax" because for heaven's sake, I know the freakin' word , I'm just a little addled. But before I can say it, the Boy interjects: "The Mountain of Good and Bad." "Yes," I say. "It's called the climax, but that's exactly what it is. I think I like that better."