In this series, I will take the Word of the Day from Dictionary.com and craft a short piece of creative writing around it. My goal is to embrace the meaning of the word in some unique way, all the while trying out different styles, rhythms and characterizations. It is as much an exercise in creativity as it is an exploration of grammar. Enjoy!
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By Alex Seise
The moment before smearing a drop of saliva along the sweet, acrid surface with the rough tip of a tongue; two moments before being tossed in a tall, cold metal bin outside; three moments before taking a cluttered, mechanical journey in a translucent plastic box; four moments before arriving in a dark, quiet place by the side of a quiet country road; five moments before being ripped open from edge to edge, spilling precious cargo onto a counter or table or directly into the waiting hands of an eager person; and six moments before being discarded with crumpled paper and plastic alike; this one moment, the one where a stamp was perfect and intact and valuable and dry, was a state of pure philately.
