Page 52 - Lulu and Bob in Verbo City

“‘For even the commonest idea’,” quoted Lulu. She pushed the
zoomorphic cookie between her teeth and bit off its tail, wondering
idly if it would regenerate: an endless snack. “The eighth line starts
with ‘of’’. Next a word consisting of four parts: a bowl of something
steaming, an ear, the letter ‘E’ and another paddle or oar. Is Uncle
Bunster being tricky? It could be anything: porridge, chili, congee or
corn pudding. But let’s try soup: that yields soup-ear-e-oar,
‘superior’.”
“Well, it’s my turn,” Bob groused. “And this is an odd one: a feline.
Cat? Lioness (no mane)? Leopard? Cougar? Panther?”
“Now it’s your turn to look at the trees instead of the forest! That’s
one very specific kind of creature, still extant, I believe: a leopard.
Known, of course, for its spots. That has to be the point here, Bob:
Uncle gave us a hint with these arrows.”
“Maybe,” said her brother. “I’ll concede nothing until we finish the
line. Next is a hotel. No, an inn. So, it’s ‘in’. Then a broom-riding
hag, undoubtedly a witch. That stands for ‘which’. And—”
“Hey, leave some of it for me! It ends with the numeral ‘2’ and a
face with a hand over its eyes, staring intently. So, it’s a verb
infinitive, like ‘stare’ or ‘peer’ or ‘gaze’ or ‘ogle’ or ‘look’ or ‘watch’.
Now we can use Uncle’s rhyming scheme: this line should end like
line six’s ‘book’. Thus we have ‘look’ as the preferred interpretation.”

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