From "Wit"

V: I can recall the time... the very hour... of the very day... when I knew words would be my life's work.

***

flashback: Vivian Bearing [V], age 5, reading to her father [F] as he reads the newspaper.

V: I like that one best.

F: Read another.

V: I think I'll read..."The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies." It has little bunnies on the front. "The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies." By Beatrix Potter.

'It is said that the effect...

of eating too much lettuce...

is...'

What is this word?

F: Sound it out.

V: So-por-i-fic. What does that mean?

F: Soporific? Causing sleep.

V: Causing sleep.

F: Makes you sleepy.

V: 'So-por-i-fic' means 'makes you sleepy.'

F: That's right. Now, use it in a sentence. What has a soporific effect on you?

V: What has a soporific effect on me?

F: What makes you sleepy?

V: Nothing.

F: [chuckles] That's right.

V: What about you?

F: What has a soporific effect on me? Let me think. Boring conversation, I suppose, after dinner.

V: Me too. Boring conversation.

F: Good, excellent. Carry on.

V: 'It is said that the effect

of eating too much lettuce...

is soporific.'

The bunnies in the picture are sleeping! They're sleeping like you said, because of sop-or-i-fic!

***

V: The illustration bore out the meaning of the word... just as he had explained it.

At the time it seemed like magic.