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Thelnt & Shin

I.

I love when you ask a 
question of someone and they
respond immediately, without
hesitation. 

it is an almost supernatural
experience and I think probably
hindi in origin. 

"jake," I asked in the grocery store,
"what do you think would be  
a good name for our baby?"

"thelnt," said jake.

jake and his wife cathy once worked
very hard on a crossword puzzle.
after a real long time, it was finally
complete. "whatıs the last word?"
asked jake.

"thelnt," said cathy. "it canıt be,"
said jake. "youıre right," said
cathy. and so they went back to 
work to see what they had done
wrong.

years later, I ran into jake quite
by accident.

"since that day, many years ago,"
jake told me, "I have met two 
thelnts. one is my neighbor, and the
other is a rather unpleasant 
bodyguard/chauffeur of
bulgarian extraction."

"thelnt," jake said with authority,
"would be the perfect name for
your child."

con't.

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