As merry Mr. Twiddle roasted chestnuts, the smoky, nutty aroma wafted up through the pages towards my nose (although I had never seen or tasted, let alone smelled a chestnut before, this is what I imagined it was like). I was very amused when I read about him trying to roast a curled up porcupine and his vain attempts to catch his rogue chestnut as it ran away from him.
I also read stories about gnomes, goblins, fairies and elves, stuffed animals that came alive at midnight, a magical chair that could take its owners anywhere they wanted to go, and a magical tree that was home to characters with names like ‘Moon face,’ who served his visitors tea, crumpets, cakes and jam sandwiches.
Whenever I read these stories, I could imagine the environment, see the characters, hear what they heard, and feel what they felt.
The rare moments I was without a book, I was lost. I had nothing with which to occupy my time. TV didn’t hold my interest for very long and I often became bored and restless if I was left with no other option. Though the TV was always on in my house, the only time I ever watched it was when I had a book in front of me and was trying to both read and watch TV simultaneously.
I have never been able to become as absorbed in a story that was playing out right before my eyes on a TV screen as I could when engaged in reading a story. Although no visible images are involved when looking at the words on a page, these words entice my imagination, painting a more vivid picture than any physical image could. Thus, I become enveloped by the world unfolding around me.
In this regard, my sister is my exact opposite. She takes a more passive role in her entertainment, preferring to have her stories shown to her. Her use of the word “blank” to describe the screen jumps out as oddly appropriate to me. Immediately, this word calls to mind the TV-watching facial expressions of her and our similarly aged cousins - the blank stares I have noticed as they sit, eyes fixed to the TV, hypnotized by the images floating across the screen.
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