May 18. “Are you ready for the spelling test, Button?”

“I am.”

“Did someone tutor you?”

“I got Rani to test my spellings at random. And I must say I fared rather well.”

“Spell GAUGE.”

“G-A-U-G-E.”

“Correct. Now spell MISERABLE.”

“M-I-S-R-A-B-L-E.”

“Wrong.”

“Why? I spell words after listening to the phonetics. Isn’t it pronounced misrable?”

“Yes. But there’s  an ‘e’ after the ‘s’. It’s an adjective derived from the word ‘misery’ which is a noun.”

“It’s much too complicated.”

“Nothing’s complicated once you understand the logistics.”

“Now spell DINING.”

“D-I-N-N-I-N-G.”

“Incorrect.”

“Can I have a go at it one more time please?”

“Sure.”

“D-I-N-I-N-G.”

“You’re right this time. Now let’s check your score. You’ve got 2 out of 5 and that’s nowhere close to being good.”