“Come see!” Maria grabs Freda’s hand and pulls her past the PLANT stand in the hall, almost knocking it over. Maria is so excited and PROUD, she can hardly wait to show off her prize. “Ta da: here’s POLLY.” Freda stopped and stared. “What is this?? I thought you had gotten a bird?!?” “Oh no, why would I do that? You know I have been slowly adding to my saltwater aquarium and this is the new sea anemone! Isn’t it a fine example of a POLYP?? Did you know they are related to jellyfish??” Freda rolled her eyes and started back down the hall, saying “You almost knocked over that antique table. I know it’s not a fish bowl or anything, but be more careful next time. Mom would be furious if you broke that table.”

Georg’ann

Tonight in the checkout line at Kroger, as I looked over People Magazine and all the candy packages, I was reminded of a PHASE from my early 20s in which it was common to eat a POUND bag of peanut
M & Ms, dance around my apartment in POOFY dresses listening to Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and The Bangles while procrastinating on writing my papers. A distant past in which there was no thought of colon cancer, the word POLYP only associated with Scrabble.

Heather