Hugger-mugger

Word of the Day Thursday, April 01, 2010

hugger-mugger

\HUH-guhr-muh-guhr\ , noun;

1. A disorderly jumble; muddle; confusion.
2. Secrecy; concealment.
adjective:
1. Confused; muddled; disorderly.
2. Secret.
adverb:
1. In a muddle or confusion.
2. Secretly.
transitive verb:
1. To keep secret.
intransitive verb:
1. To act in a secretive manner.


Leonard paused fro the first time in what seemed like hours and wiped his forehead with the bandanna he had wrapped around his neck.

He surveyed the small room, the lack of supplies, the over-whelming number of people in need and for a moment felt like he was drowning, gasping for air.

"Just ten more minutes," he told himself for the fiftieth time that day, "Ten more minutes and then you can call it quits." He felt his heart rate slow back down.

When he had run into a foreign aid group two weeks prior at a little local restaurant he hadn't thought too much about what he was getting himself into when he had volunteered his time with them.

He had been in the country for a little over a month, he had seen enough sights and had traveled around enough that he felt that he was starting to get the hang of the travel bum lifestyle. He knew how to make his way through a corded area without loosing any of his stuff, find a place to sleep without getting swindled and how to find a decent meal.

In all honesty, he was looking for a new adventure while off on his adventure. So when this group of doctors had come into the restaurant, speaking English, he had immediately introduced himself. "Do you guys ever need extra volunteers?" he had asked.

The next day he had been initiated with the hugger-mugger of their little out-post clinic rushing the meager supplies they had from one crisis to the next, passing out water, and trying to ride out the roller coaster of emotion he found himself on.

Absentmindedly he put his hand in this left pocket and rolled the acorn nut between his fingers. I had become his worry stone, and for the first time in days he wondered what Elliot was up to. And at the same time couldn't imagine how he had ever been able to stand cubicle life in an insurance agency.