Word After Word

My friend and colleague Jackie just came into my office. I was on the phone. While I chatted away, she took my arm. She affixed to my wrist–I just let Jackie do things like this, she’s from Pittsburgh, there’s no use resisting her–a thin white hospital bracelet.  I didn’t ask. I didn’t miss a beat on the phone. Later, I remembered to look at the bracelet.

It is the Base Form, Past Tense, Past Participle, and Present Participle of Lie and Lay.

Jackie reads all my work in draft form (and I read as much of hers as she’ll give me). She has corrected my Lay Lie mistakes 10,000 times.

We all know the bracelet won’t help me. We all wish it would. We know, as is the case for hospital patients everywhere, wrists bound by similiar bracelets, which we wear with shame, the bracelet simply labels the problem by name.

Related posts:

1. Thank You, Jackie B
2. Dating the Draft
3. We Used To Communicate
4. Away from the Manuscript
5. Red Light Green Light: a First Draft Response Method