Chiara Marino, Excerpt #5: Dewey Belong Together?



Excerpt #5: Dewey Belong Together?

“What are you working on?” he asked, peering at her notecards from across the table. “’What’s Beethoven’s favorite fruit?’” he read.

She looked up and smiled.

“Ba-na-na-na!” she sang softly to the tune of Beethoven’s fifth symphony.

He stared at her, just blinking.

She suddenly felt stupid.

“It’s like the post-its,” she explained sheepishly. “I put jokes in random books for people to find while they’re studying. I like to think it might help relieve their stress. Cheesy, right?”

His eyes squinted as he studied her. Then he grabbed a card from her pile, jotted something down quickly, and handed it back.

She read to herself, “Why did the karate master sneeze? He had the Kung Flu.” She covered her mouth to hold back her giggles.

He smiled at last and moved to the seat next to her. They wrote jokes side by side and the pressure of trying to be quiet made their laughter even stronger.

Peter peered over her shoulder to read her notecard.

“’What did one book say to the other? Dewey belong together?’” He groaned.

She shushed him, then took the notecard that had been in front of him.

“’What is Bruce Lee’s favorite drink?’” she read. The punch line had not been written, so she looked at him for the answer.

He put two hands out and said, “’WAAA-TAAAR!’”

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