[FOsen]

“I do rather like that ‘o’, said Henry, “it’s positively gibbous.” “Cyril,” interrupted Alice, “you still haven’t answered me; what is so damned patronizing about an aesthetically pleasing font?” “And look at that ‘r,’” murmured Stanley, “It’s . . .” “Rebarbitive!” yelled Cyril. “Oh, come off it, Cyril, the whole thing looks as if it was chiseled by a three-fingered lapidary on barbiturates.” “Alice,” snapped Cyril, “we’ve got to have something edgy for young people. Aesthetics is so last Olympics.” “Well, that’s just it, isn’t it,” retorted Alice, “it’s the Olympics—not a Nuremberg rally.” “Oh, spare us your plangent whinging, Alice,” said Ramona, “at least this is consequential.” “I’d rather be plangent,” spat Alice, “than a solipsistic son of a – “ “Right,” interjected Henry, a bit too chirpily. “So, let’s vote – who’s for the London 2012 typeface? Oh, good. You can come down off that ledge now, Cyril.”

[Susan d.S.]

Minu, you were warned:

Luna spat out the mouthful, “rebarbative!” she said. “But, rhubarb’s your favorite,” Louis answered. Luna rolled her eyes. He was not the sharpest blade in the shop. What had she seen in him? It was the name. “Louis Lapidaire.” It was plangent on the tongue, evocative. He must have been French, somewhere. But Luna knew what it meant, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she made an association between Louis and jewelry. She had a solipsistic, half-formed expectation of lapidary gifts. Instead, he baked rhubarb for her and forgot the sugar. She’d gotten into this because of her weakness for difficult words (and difficult flavors). She was not consequential, though, and not inclined to break it off for his sake. The name. He hadn’t picked up on “rebarbative”. Instead of explaining, she feigned feeling full. She pointed at her round belly and said, “gibbous.”

[Minu Varghese]

Susan, that was hiarious! especially the last line! enjoyed it very much.

[Jerome Betts]

Fosen, liked your gibbous 'o' almost as much as Susan's gibbous belly. (Er . . . should I rephrase that?) Typo with rebarbitive?

An interesting by-product of this competition was close dictionary scrutiny of words whose meanings were previously assumed from their context, particularly gibbous and plangent.

Can't wait to see whether any of these four Spherical offerings make it through Lucy's filter.

[Donna English]

Frank and Susan, laughs from me. I'll give it try.

The Artist

The statue is consequential, though rebarbative to many. The erection a solipsistic testament to his lapidary skills. The pigeons perch on the polished-granite head, their plangent calls from above chill him. He stares at his reflection in the gibbous marble stones at the base, and draws further into himself.