Louis Beside Himself (27 page)

I couldn't help interrupting to suggest that the word she was looking for might be
E
XTENDED
, and there was a general groan of exasperation. But Cordelia held up her hand and said no, fold-out was right because . . .
See?!
And from her bag she brought out a pile of what looked like pieces of coloured paper but were actually birthday hats, cut out from a chain of people-shapes joined at the hands and feet. We all had to put a hat on, and I could tell everyone felt a bit silly at first, but after a while we saw that we all looked the same.

And suddenly Hassan got to his feet, pulling up the person on either side of him until we were all standing, holding hands like the paper people. Mady started singing an old Persian happy birthday song, and everyone seemed to know the words, or maybe we just knew the tune, which actually seemed like the same thing, so we sang like the wind whistling down the mountains in Afghanistan or across the red deserts of Australia, and I knew, right then, that this was the place to end my story, at the best moment of my life so far, here in Mady's restaurant.

THE END

LOUIS MONTGOMERY'S WORD BANK

Word
| Meaning |
Synonyms

ABRUPT

Unexpectedly sudden

Brusque, curt, truncated

AMOROUS

In love; from the Latin, amor (says Elena)

Enamoured, loving

APPALLED

Filled with dismay

Horrified, repelled

AROMA

A pleasing odour (unlike Gus's brother's farts, or mine)

Smell

BESIEGED

Surrounded aggressively; laying siege to

Harassed, hemmed in

BLACKGUARD

A bad person without morals

Villain, scoundrel

BREVITY

Of short duration

Being really concise

BUOYANT

Being able to float or rise in a liquid; bounce back emotionally from disaster

Cheerful, optimistic

CAJOLED

Coaxed or wheedled; tried to persuade

CATAPULT

Sprung up; from the ancient military machine for hurling stones; a slingshot

Leapt out, hurled

CLARIFY

Make clearer

Elucidate

COMPANIONABLE

Sociable; of good company

Friendly

COMPASSION

The deep feeling of sharing the suffering of another and wanting to help; show mercy

Sympathy, empathy, concern

CONCISE

Summing up your points precisely, without unnecessary detail

Brief

CULINARY

To do with cooking and the kitchen

Gastronomic

DELETERIOUS

Something harmful

Negative, injurious

DERANGED

Disturbed; in Italian, pazza (says Elena)

Upset, crazy

DEVASTATING

Appalling, unbelievably shattering

Defeating, ruinous

DILEMMA

A dreadful problem, a very awkward situation

Difficulty

DISILLUSIONMENT

The painful state of having your illusions and hopes dashed

Disenchantment

EBULLIENT

Overflowing with excitement

Extremely enthusiastic, exuberant

ECSTATIC

Buoyantly happy; in a state of ecstasy,

Euphoric, blissful

EMPATHY

Entering into the feelings or motives of another person

Pity, sympathy, compassion

EXCRUCIATING

Unbearably painful

Agonising

EXQUISITE

Beautifully made or designed; acutely perceptive or discriminating

Spectacular, magnificent

EXPONENTIALLY

Multiply GIGANTICALLY – by heaps (Rosie says the word is a Maths term, to do with logarithms, but feel free to use it to describe anything that's multiplying rapidly, like bacteria in a wound, or the imagination, with exercise)

FLATULENCE

Too much air in the stomach

Wind, gas, farting potential

FORTIFYING

Securing a position with fortifications

Strengthening

FUNEREAL

To do with funerals

Morbid, really sad

GARBLED

Distorted sound, making a message hard to understand

Scrambled

IMMORAL

Without morals, principles, or ethics

Very bad, like a blackguard

INTACT

All of a piece, nothing missing Whole, complete

Intractable

Difficult to manage or manoeuvre

Stubborn as anything

INTREPID

Courageous

Fearless, undaunted, incredibly brave

IRONIC

The use of words or actions to show the opposite of their meaning

Humorous, clever

IRREPLACEABLE

Unable to be replaced or substituted

Crucial, indispensable

LA CERATED

Torn; distressed deeply; cut with jagged edges (words can lacerate, too)

Mangled, wounded

LITERALLY

To uphold the true meaning of a word

Really, actually

LUGUBRIOUS

Mournful, from the Latin lugubri(s), (says Elena)

Doleful, gloomy

MALLEE BULL

Extremely strong and fit, to survive the dry country of the Mallee in Victoria

MANGY

Of shabby appearance; full of bare spots

Wretched, squalid

MOROSELY

In a melancholy way

Sullenly, gloomily

NONCHALANT

Seemingly unconcerned; having a donft.care attitude

Casually indifferent

OMINOUS

An omen or sign, menacing

Portentous, threatening

PERIL

Imminent terrible danger, serious risk!

PERPLEXITIES

Things that puzzle, or are very complicated or intricate

Puzzlements, intricacies

PIQUANT

Pleasantly disturbing taste or odour

Spicy, pungent

PONDERING

Considering carefully

Thinking over, weighing up

PUNGENT

Sharp, biting taste or smell; pointed, penetrating comment

Acrid, caustic

REMOTEST

Furthest away

Isolated, distant

REVERIE

Lost in thought

Trance, daydream

RIGOR MORTIS

Muscles going stiff and rigid after death

ROBUST

Strong, healthy, well.developed

RUEFULLY

Expressing sadness or regret; often with a faintly sardonic, bitter kind of compassion

Wryly

SARDONICALLY

Scornfully, mockingly, influenced by the Latin herba Sardonia ‘Sardinian herb', a poisonous plant that distorts the face of the eater (says Elena, who was told by her Aunty Maria from Sardinia)

Cynically, sarcastically

SCABROUS

Rough to the touch, not very nice, a bit rude

Knotty, yucky

SINISTER

Suggesting an evil force or motive; from the Latin, meaning on the left, which was thought to be unlucky in the old days, (says Elena)

Malign, dire (rhymes with wire), ominous

STAGNATE

Stop moving or flowing; lie inactive for ages; become stale, lose energy

STATISTICS

The collection, organisation and interpretation of numerical data

SUBLIME

Majestic, something of extremely high worth

Awesome, grand, supreme, noble, exquisite!

TA NTALISING

Teasing or tormenting by giving a glimpse of something appealing but keeping it out of reach

TERRESTRIAL

Of the earth or its inhabitants as opposed to something heavenly

Earthly, mundane

THYME

An aromatic herb from the genus

Thymus, often used for seasoning

TRANSFIGURED

Figure or appearance changed

Transformed, altered

TRANSLUCENT

Allowing light to shine through but blurring, making images indistinct

TUMULTUOUS

Noisy and disorderly

Riotous

VA LIANTLY

Acting with valour or stout heart Bravely, courageous (Compiled with assistance from
The Heritage Illustrated Dictionary
and Elena Spezia)

ANNA FIENBERG
began writing stories when she was only eight years old. She says: ‘I've always had a passion for words. I used to collect them, like some people collect stamps. Certain words gave me a special, billionaire feeling, and when uttered, seemed to have a magical effect. But it was my son and his passion for wrestling that gave me the idea for this book. He and his friends spent hours trying to roll their eyeballs up into their heads, poking out their tongues and scowling like the wrestling star, The Undertaker. They folded each other over like envelopes, pounded, leaped on, crashed into, headlocked, and jumped over each other. The noise from the other end of the house was sometimes so alarming.

‘One thing I noticed as I was growing up was that it was good to have a passion of your own, but lonely if no one else shared it. Words were the perfect passion to have, though, because eventually, if you figured out how to use them in the right way, you could share what you cared about most. And when you read other people's words you could go inside their minds and understand what they cared about most. What I love about books is that they tell you what everyone is thinking, but not saying.

‘It was C S Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, who said, “We read so as not to be alone.” Those wonderful books of his, and all the myriad of others I've read in my life have always been such rich company. I hope when you pick up Louis Beside Himself that you'll find that sort of company, too.'

Anna Fienberg has written picture books, junior novels and fiction for teenagers and adults. Her books include the popular Tashi series, The Witch in the Lake, Number 8 and Horrendo's Curse, which was an Honour Book in the 2003 CBCA awards.