Word: mattress
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...emotionally of a Greek hot-dog vendor he and his friends robbed: "We never saw the tiny, airless fourth-floor room he lived in, a 40-minute walk from his station, its only comfort a tattered collection of pictures from home, crudely taped to the wall nearest the worn mattress of his bed. We never saw the hot stove, topped by empty cans of Campbell's pork and beans...
...houses away, a new widow sits and watches the visitors making their way through town. Her husband, she quietly admits, also helped take care of the sick family. Then he died. She buried his body, but the mattress where he lay sick is still in the house. Dr. David Heyman of the World Health Organization listens to her story, and his heart sinks. He knows as much about the lethal Ebola virus as anyone alive; he was part of the team that investigated the first recorded outbreak, also in Zaire, two decades ago. Now he is leading the international brigade...
...responsibility of it all. My stomach hadn't been in such a tumult since I partook of the Union's bul gogi last month. What if I messed up? What if He thought I was a fool? I spent an anxious, sleepless night staring at my roommate's mattress. Finally, I got out of bed and did what I had done so many sleepless nights before: I dialed 5-5700. His voice instantly assuaged my insecurity. Before Menu Man had even listed my three options, I knew everything would be all right. He would accept my strengths and weaknesses equally...
...press: "The sly, anonymous insertions of the perfumed ice pick into the kidneys in the form of the quotes from my colleagues in the Department are only a peculiar form of acupuncture indigenous to Foggy Bottom against which I was immunized long ago." If the "mattress mice" in Washington were pressing him to prepare an evacuation--well, he knew the situation better: "I have been right so far, which is unforgivably infuriating to the bureaucracy." Martin initially refused even to allow the precautionary felling of a huge tamarind tree that blocked helicopters from landing in the embassy courtyard...
Leyner's book subjects nearly every element of pop culture to light-hearted scrutiny, yet includes moments of insight into our human condition "Thoughts While Listening to Mahler in the Afternoon" and "Bassinet Mattress Day" discuss with comical yet realistic clarity issues such as death and, less serious but hopefully more immediate, what to do with that spare time in the car while waiting for your companion to finish her shopping...