Trixie walked in to the study to see Mart sitting in front of the family computer, grumbling to himself.
“Desert or desert. You would think that the internet which is supposed to know everything would point out to the user that there is a difference between desert the noun, desert the adjective, and desert the verb, and don’t even get me started on desert!”
Trixie couldn’t help breaking in to Marts’ musings. “I can’t believe that I just heard you say not to get you started on dessert.” She reached out the back of her hand to touch his forehead. “Are you feeling alright? You don’t feel like you have a fever”
Mart batted Trixies’ hand away. “Leave me alone and let me grump in peace. I am supposed to write a piece on the Arizona deserts and why I might want to live there some day.
“You know, desert the noun. But when I google the word, I don’t just get pictures of those types of deserts. Oh no! Even worse, because our IP address is in New York, there was a picture of a quote by Isreal Zangwill that said, ‘NEW YORK IS THE GREAT STONE DESERT. Then there was a discussion of desert as in abandonment, and another of desert as the adjective like ‘overgrazing has created desert conditions’ and the last one was deserts as in a person being punished and getting their just deserts.”
“It is enough to make a person want to burn up their dictionary”, Mart sighed.
Trixie left Mart to his grumbling only to return with a tray loaded with dishes, scoops, ice-cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. She set the tray down in front of Mart
“You know Mart. You are the only walking dictionary that I know. So many people spell desert when they mean something else entirely. What you need is an ice-cream sundae with chocolate fudge and whipped cream with cherry on top. You won’t feel parched like a desert or abandoned and forced to desert when you get your just deserts and have a proper dessert.
“Enjoy!”
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