VV (3) - Stencil's Awakening

David Morris fqmorris at hotmail.com
Sun Nov 5 02:11:31 CST 2000


The War shook Stencil out of his drifting sleep-walk. Reluctantly so. "He 
didn't particularly care to wake; but realized that if he didn't he would 
soon be sleeping alone. (54)"  [Side: This is surprisingly close to my 
deliberations before proposing marriage to the Mrs.]

Re-evaluation is what War forces.  Stencil will be sleeping alone 
eventually.  For now, during the War, he's doing what's expected of an 
upstanding Son of a Spy:  He's joining the Foreign Office.  War seems to 
have become him.

After the War he "flirted w/ the idea of resuming that prewar sleepwalk."  
The he saw the sentence about V.  V saved Stencil from near-death, sleep.

But sleep is not "inanimate."  Sleep can be exhausting.  Dream a little 
dream for me.

"INANIMATE"
Main Entry: in·an·i·mate
Pronunciation: (")i-'na-n&-m&t
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin inanimatus, from Latin in- + 
animatus, past participle of animare to animate
Date: 15th century
1 : not animate: a : not endowed with life or spirit b : lacking 
consciousness or power of motion
2 : not animated or lively : DULL
- in·an·i·mate·ly adverb
- in·an·i·mate·ness noun


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