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Patricia has passed on the 5 word challenge duties to me this week, so I've carefully picked five words out of a hat for this weeks' challenge.  They are:

1. skyscraper
2. convulsion
3. systematic
4. feign
5. venerable

Empire State Building

It wasn't until his third visit to New York City that he got up the courage to visit the Empire State Building.

Jackson wasn't exactly sure why he was frightened of this one building.  "For christ's sakes," he mumbled to himself.  "I work in a freaking skyscraper.  Why does this one freak me out?"

The taxi he had flagged down inched slowly through the throng of pedestrians and cars, giving him plenty of time to stew in his thoughts.  The traffic lights, normally so systematic in their timed ballet of stop-and-go, seemed to be taunting the motorists today.  Eight cars made it through the intersection last time – a mere three the time before that.  He forced himself to feign calmness when he noticed the cab driver looking at his white-knuckled grip on the door's handrail.

As he fumbled in his pocket for enough money to pay the fare, he felt the shuddering start.  Almost a convulsion in its severity, it was worse than the last time.  He gritted his teeth and waited out the trembling until he felt he could safely reach in through the passenger-side window to hand his driver the money without dropping bills everywhere.

He could feel the presence of the venerable building behind, looming over him.  It took all of his willpower to turn, his body dragging against the unseen weights holding him in place.

Here I am.
And there's the door.
I can do this.
Just a few steps and I'll be there.
Just follow the crowd going in.
In through the door.
If I had started to move I'd be inside by now.
Oh my god, will I ever be able to move?
What if I'm standing here all day?
Is it growing bigger?  Am I getting smaller?
I'm seriously going to have a panic attack and stop breathing in a second.
I wonder if someone will give me CPR if I collapse.

A burly tourist, too busy staring at a map to notice where he was going, walked right into Jackson, almost bowling him over.  As the blow from behind forced him to step forward to catch his balance, the frightened man found himself running for the door, feet slapping against the concrete as he cut through the crowds and on into the cool, air-conditioned interior of the building.

As he collapsed against a wall in a mixture of relief and exhaustion, he looked down at the tiled stone under his feet.  I'm in, he thought to himself.  I made it.

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This came up on my playlist while mediamonkey was on shuffle….thought I'd share for those of you who had not heard it – also, I'm new to the group so sorry if it's been posted before.

This is gODHEAD covering The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby".  I first heard this right after their album 2000 Years of Human Error came out, when I was DJing for a local radio station.  We were playing "The Reckoning" in rotation, and I decided to give this some play on the air in the middle of the night.  I got 3 calls from people within five minutes of starting to play it from people who had to tell me how cool it was and asking who the group was.  I tried to push it into my lineup occasionally after that :)

Eleanor Rigby

Godhead

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    Book: Show us a book that you like to give as a gift.

    Submitted by Ross.

As a kid, I was a bonafide bookworm.  I know that there were a number of times that I got in trouble in school for reading during class.  And not only would I read voraciously, but I was not very discriminating in what genres and styles of books I read.  I remember reading my first Stephen King (It) and my first science fiction novel (Interstellar Pig, by William Sleator).  Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass were in my library stack, as were the Encyclopedia Brown and Great Brain series.

All of these make great gifts to children/young adults, but there were some that have stuck with me even more than these, and they're ones I love to suggest as gifts for people (and have even given a few times myself.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Wilson Rawls

1) Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls – Probably my favorite story as a boy, I was entranced by the childhood story of Bill Colman and his discovery and eventual love for two hunting coonhounds.  Every time I read it, I could imagine myself walking alongside of Old Dan and Little Ann, and the first few times, the ending brought me to tears.  Still today I consider this one of my favorite books of all time.

The Dark Is Rising (Dark is Rising Sequence)

Susan Cooper

2) The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper – Starting with The Dark is Rising (2nd book in the series, but the first to really engage you), this series recounts the struggle between the forces of good and evil (known as The Light and The Dark).  Regular children become caught up in the battle, searching for Things of Power, or even becoming "Old Ones" to help fight on the side of The Light.  I was entranced by the entire series, even struggling through the unfamiliar geographies of Cornwall and Wales that set the locale for some of the stories.

The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien

3) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein – Reading this as a kid set me up for the Lord of the Rings series when I was 11 or 12.  The imagery, the characters, the story – all are magical and enchanting and I cannot help but push this on all kids who have been excited by the Peter Jackson movies but have never read the books.

I've got many more books that I like to suggest or give as gifts, but if I wrote them all here, it would compose a book itself…So I'll cut it short with these three, and save the rest for another day (or days!)

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