The phantom tollbooth

Matt was here on Sunday night, briefly. He was accompanied by two friends from camp. The guy is clearly an English major -- made a beeline to the bookcases. We seem to have similar taste in books, and chatted about the linguistics books we've read. His girlfriend, Matt and I got into a discussion of the Phantom Tollbooth -- turns out its a favorite of all of ours. We talked about subtraction stew and division dumplings and the Lethargarians, about Alex, whose people are born at their eventual height and grow downwards, about Rhyme and Reason and the warring kingdoms of words and numbers. A completely fulfilling few minutes; wish it could have lasted. I'm so glad Matt is back -- the wonderful, sweet Matt I knew for so many years. He looks healthy and happy and engaged and resolved, and I couldn't be happier. Thanks, Milo.