LEARNING TO READ

Walking with Julian our preschooler, he often asks what signs say. He knows that the red signs on the corner say, "S-T-O-P!" for instance, and he says, "That spells, STOP."

In a nice area of town walking down High St. as it turns on to Court St. (from where one can see the 2nd Presbyterian Church, as well as the Queen Anne style Courthouse with the autumn foliage of Federal Hill #3 as backdrop), someone had spraypainted in blue stencil the letters, "F-U-C-K."

Julian said, "F-U-C-K. What does that spell, Dad?"

"That spells, we're late, Julesy," I said, and I hurried him on past, and tried to get him excited about the Health Food store named Good Cheap Food where he gets a stick of red licorice.