Story time

"You mean Buttercup," the boy protested.

"No, that was the first story I read for you when you had the whooping cough, remember? The Princess Bride. This time I'm reading you a much more confusing story because you are dying from cholera." He sighed. "Sakes alive, boy! Why can't you just get measles or mumps like other boys at your age?"

"It's not my fault," the boy muttered. "Anyway that story is full of puns and wordplay; I'm beginning to hate that even more than kissing." Actually he had started to like kissing more after he kissed a girl at school (he had even told her "As you wish", but she didn't seem to get it), but he wasn't going to tell his grandfather that. Not yet anyway. "I think you are making up half of them," he continued. "What kind of nonsense is this?"

"This," the grandpa said pointedly, "is the story you chose for me to read to you. Though you may not have been aware of it at the time. It is called The Neverending Quest."

"See? Even the title is dumb. Who wrote it anyway? Not that Morgenstern fellow to be sure!"

"Good question." The grandfather turned to the title page. He kept turning pages for a while. He took off his glasses, cleaned them and put them back on. He kept turning pages. He looked up and said with a puzzled expression, "I'll get back to you on that." He found his place in the middle of the book.

"Now, meanwhile Princess Butter Up..."

The boy groaned.

1. The grandpa skips to a different part of the book.
2. The boy has a flashback to when he kissed the girl.
3. The boy dies from cholera.
4. As you wish.

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