{"id":874,"date":"2007-09-08T00:41:12","date_gmt":"2007-09-08T06:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=874"},"modified":"2007-09-08T00:50:08","modified_gmt":"2007-09-08T06:50:08","slug":"madeleine-lenglenov-29-1918-sept-6-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=874","title":{"rendered":"Madeleine L’Engle<\/br>Nov. 29, 1918 – Sept. 6, 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Madeleine<\/a>\u201cI\u2019ll help.\u201d Mrs. Murry squatted at Mrs Whatsit\u2019s feet, yanking on one slick boot. When the boot came off it came suddenly. Mrs. Murry sat down with a thump. Mrs Whatsit went tumbling backward with the chair onto the floor, sandwich held high in one old claw. Water poured out of the boot and ran over the floor and the big braided rug.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, dearie me,\u201d Mrs Whatsit said, lying on her back in the overturned chair, her feet in the air, one in a red and white striped sock, the other still booted.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Murry got to her feet. \u201cAre you all right, Mrs Whatsit?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have some liniment I\u2019ll put it on my dignity,\u201d Mrs Whatsit said, still supine. \u201cI think it\u2019s sprained. A little oil of cloves mixed well with garlic is rather good.\u201d And she took a large bite of sandwich.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo please get up,\u201d Charles said. \u201cI don\u2019t like to see you lying there that way. You\u2019re carrying things too far.\u201d \u201cHave you ever tried to get to your feet with a sprained dignity?\u201d But Mrs Whatsit scrambled up, righted the chair, and then sat back down on the floor, the booted foot stuck out in front of her, and took another bite. She moved with great agility for such an old woman. At least Meg was reasonably sure that she was an old woman, and a very old woman at that.<\/p>\n

Mrs Whatsit, her mouth full, ordered Mrs. Murry, \u201cNow pull while I\u2019m already down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quite calmly, as though this old woman and her boots were nothing out of the ordinary, Mrs. Murry pulled until the second boot relinquished the foot. This foot was covered with a blue and gray Argyle sock, and Mrs Whatsit sat there, wriggling her toes, contentedly finishing her sandwich before scrambling to her feet. \u201cAh,\u201d she said, \u201cthat\u2019s ever so much better,\u201d and took both boots and shook them out over the sink. \u201cMy stomach is full and I\u2019m warm inside and out and it\u2019s time I went home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you think you\u2019d better stay till morning?\u201d Mrs. Murry asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, thank you, dearie, but there\u2019s so much to do I just can\u2019t waste time sitting around frivoling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s much too wild a night to travel in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWild nights are my glory,\u201d Mrs Whatsit said. \u201cI just got caught in a down draft and blown off course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, at least till your socks are dry\u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWet socks don\u2019t bother me. I just didn\u2019t like the water squishing around in my boots. Now don\u2019t worry about me, lamb.\u201d (Lamb was not a word one would ordinarily think of calling Mrs. Murry.) \u201cI shall just sit down for a moment and pop on my boots and then I\u2019ll be on my way. Speaking of ways, pet, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Murry went very white and with one hand reached backward and clutched at a chair for support. Her voice trembled. \u201cWhat did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Whatsit tugged at her second boot. \u201cI said,\u201d she grunted, shoving her foot down in, \u201cthat there is\u201d\u2013 shove\u2013\u201csuch a thing\u201d\u2013shove\u2013\u201cas a tesseract.\u201d Her foot went down into the boot, and grabbing shawls, scarves, and hat, she hustled out the door.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/center>A Wrinkle in Time<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, 1962. <\/p>\n

This book changed my life. Thanks, Ms. L’Engle. Rest in peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019ll help.\u201d Mrs. Murry squatted at Mrs Whatsit\u2019s feet, yanking on one slick boot. When the boot came off it came suddenly. Mrs. Murry sat down with a thump. Mrs Whatsit went tumbling backward with the chair onto the floor, sandwich held high in one old claw. Water poured out of the boot and ran […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-etcetera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}