A Latter-day Bluestocking

Recently I watched an episode of The Middle that really spoke to me.  Well, actually the youngest son in the family, Brick, spoke to me.  Brick is my favorite character and the one I find most endearing.  He is advanced beyond his years, easily distracted, somewhat awkward, and a big reader.  In this particular episode, Brick is disquieted by the prospect of having to partake of the public school ritual of watching the required sex-ed film amusingly entitled, “What’s Going on Down There.”  Long story short, his not very helpful big brother Axl decides to explain the facts of life to his brother and analogizes Brick’s love of books to the feelings he will one day come to possess for the opposite sex.  I thought that was a promising correlation to make.  But the moment of sincere and clear enlightenment, the moment when I laughed myself silly because the question Brick asks of the school nurse after viewing the film hit, in a way, too close to home.  His question?  “When chicks want it, do they want it right away, or can I finish my book first?”  Ah, something to really think about.  After all, can’t things just wait till I finish my book?

The Middle: episode 5 The Hose