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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Something About Gettin' Fidgey Wit It

Saint Fidgeta

Deliver us!

One can’t help but notice what Lewis Barnavelt is doing when we are first introduced (The House with a Clock in its Walls, 3): “Lewis Barnavelt fidgeted....”

It's the third word in the book and one wonders if Lewis is familiar with the patron saint of such things?

I wondered how many other characters were just as fidgety. It turns out no one is as fidgety as the characters in the Johnny Dixon series, which is expected since there were more books. But here’s what I found:
  • At the conclusion of The Curse of the Blue Figurine (1983), when Professor Childermass completes his introductory welcome speech, he retreats "to the fireplace and [stood] there, fidgeting."
  • Mrs. Zimmermann decides she does not want to be "always worrying and fidgeting" about keeping the Ring of Solomon and melts it down, lest it fall into the hands of someone like Gert Bigger in The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring (1976).
  • Fergie turns to look at Johnny, "who was just standing there fidgeting" after being told about the underground tunnel on the Glomus estate in The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt (1983).
  • Johnny fidgeted in front of the statue of Saint Anthony waiting for Father Higgins in The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull (1984).
  • Johnny started getting fidgety before "breaking and entering" the old Sloane house in The Eyes of the Killer Robot (1986).
  • Fergie stood fidgeting, waiting for Johnny to unlock Professor Childermass's front door before their time traveling trip to Topsfield in The Trolley to Yesterday (1988).
  • Anthony gets fidgetier and fidgetier waiting to meet Miss Eells before she and Emerson travel to Stillwater in The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb (1988).
  • Professor Childermass "hummed a fidgety, unmelodic tune" in the hospital waiting for news about Dr. Coote in The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie (1994).
  • Lewis had been fidgety for weeks when Uncle Jonathan replaced the wallpaper in The Beast under the Wizard's Bridge (2000).
  • Lewis fidgeted - and dozed off - during Father Foley's Mass in The Whistle, the Grave, and the Ghost (2003).

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