“Good morning, Miss Pratchet!” screamed 30 preschoolers as she walked through the door.

“Good morning! Good morning!” She felt like a royal queen, with the smiling children all turning around to face her. (A strange notion, to be sure, but she couldn’t help what she thought!)

There was one child, Ruth, who didn’t do any of the laughing, playing, and singing that the other children did. Instead, she looked up long words in her pocket dictionary and used them as often as possible.

“Good morning, Ruth!” smiled Miss Pratchet. “What are you counting on your fingers?”

“Everything!” she answered, “Cause today, I’m a professional dactylonomist! That means I study the art of dactylonomy!”

Miss Pratchet smiled on the outside at her, but inside, she was feeling very troubled about the strange behavior of Ruth.

Then Miss Pratchet got an idea. Maybe, just maybe, she could get her involved in today’s games!

“Now, whoever guesses what the word xenoglossy means gets to pick today’s game!”

Ruth picked Scrabble.