Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Yawn To Be Wild

Sitting on the train the other day, I glanced over at a lady who was yawning, which, in keeping with that Strange Law of The Universe, triggered a yawn of my very own. The lady then happened to glance at me, in turn sending her straight back in to a follow-up yawn.

At this point I had the wisdom to break eye contact, thus preventing any further repercussions. But it got me thinking. What if we had have maintained eye contact indefinitely? Would this have set in to motion some kind of debilitating, infinite yawn chain that would stretch on to the day we died? Chilling.

Another yawning incident happened recently while I was reading a children's' book to one of my daughters. I don't remember what the book was, but there was an illustration on one of the pages of someone yawning. Seeing this made me yawn.

This led me later to ponder existentially the fact that it had not been a real person, or even a photo of a real person that demanded my yawn, but just a simple, line drawing, just a big O for a mouth and two little arcs for eyes. How strange that just a few simple pen strokes could have such power over me.

And then finally, this morning as I was walking up the hill to work, merely thinking about what I'd write in this post set me off yawning all the way to the office.

Friends, beware this silent predator, this controlling puppet-master that threatens a stranglehold on your life. You may snicker now, but just wait till you are frozen paralysed in an Infinite Yawn Chain, a husk of your former self, just a great big O with two little arcs above it. It could happen.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

*Yawn* Please note that my yawning may be in response to this post, or it could be a result of living in the world of a newborn!

I love a good yawn, though. So stretching and satisfying!

Laetitia :-) said...

Thanks Ben - as if I'm not yawning enough from lack of sleep - it's a Coke day for me, methinks.

Christine said...

This post made me yawn! (I mean, seriously it did, not that it was boring or anything, but it got me thinking about yawning i guess...) ;)