Any of Various Bases or Parts
fin·i·al / ˈfi-nē-əl / noun. I. a small, decorative feature at the peak of an architectural structure, as in, on top of your grandfather’s house there was a finial shaped like a radish. At least, I always thought it looked like a radish.
split ped·i·ment / ˈsplit pe-də-mənt / noun. I. a triangular area near the top of a building whose sloping or curving sides terminate before reaching its highest point, resulting in an opening that is often filled with some sort of ornament, as in, we had a bird’s nest snuggled into the split pediment above the front door, and for two weeks that first April we’d wake to the cries of hatchlings as you’d check the time and say, “I can’t wait till we wake up to cries of our own,” and we’d try one more time before breakfast, the grandfather clock egging us on with each chime. II. any space almost joined by two objects, as in, there was something about us, that I couldn’t quite explain, that was a split pediment.
face / ˈfās / noun. I. the front part of the head that in humans extends from the forehead to the chin and includes the mouth, nose, cheeks, and eyes, as in, your face always seemed sober, even on the sunniest of days when we’d watch the sailboats from your parents’ beach house, as in, your face reminded me of a potato, not because you looked like a potato, but because I loved potatoes and I loved you. II. a facial expression of distaste or displeasure, as in, you always made a face when I cooked anything with garlic, as in, why did you make that face when I brought up the taxes?, as in, you kept making that face, as in, you kept making that face. III. a front, upper, or outer surface, as in, when I first met your grandfather, he asked me, “did you know that on the face of a clock, the Roman numeral four reads iiii?” IIII. as in, what’s wrong with your face?, as in, look me in the face. Please.
moon·di·al / ˈmün-dī(-ə)l / noun. I. a dial designed to show the shape of the moon as it appears in the sky, as in, when you were little, your grandfather said the other plants would spy on you through the moondial, as in, if it’s cloudy outside, you can use the moondial to determine what the moon would look like if you could blow away the clouds. II. a timepiece associated with lunar gardening (night-blooming plants), as in, for our first anniversary, you built me a moondial and set it behind the house, right next to the marigolds your mother planted for us when we first moved into the place.
side ac·cess pan·el / ˈsīd ˈak-ˌses ˈpa-nəl / noun. I. a slot or opening on the side of an object, as in, the first time I walked in on you shopping for guns on the desktop computer, you threw open the side access panel and slammed the power button II. a slot or opening intentionally concealed, as in, we installed a side access panel to store our safe underneath the basement stairs, and that’s where you said you put our birth certificates III. any sort of opening not directly to the front or back of something, as in, your ears were your side access panel, allowing my voice to swirl vibrations inside you until your brain made sense of it all, or at least tried to make sense of it all. IIII. as in, let me in, I never could open your side access panel.
hand / ˈhand / noun. I. the terminal, prehensile part of the upper limb in humans and other primates, consisting of the wrist, metacarpal area, fingers, and thumb, as in, at the end of an arm is a hand, as in, I want you to hold my hand, as in, your hand was a stencil, letting me trace my fingers over it and lock into yours, as in, your hand always felt rough even in the summer, as in, here, hold my hand, as in, why didn’t you hold my hand anymore? II. the skill belonging to a person, as in, you had a real hand at hunting, as in, you had a real hand at keeping things from me III. something resembling a hand in shape or function, as various types of pointers, as in, the hands on the grandfather clock were stuck at 6:03, the second hand trying to escape, twitching the same way your neck did when you had something on your mind IIII. as in, the hands on the grandfather clock knew something felt stuck. V. as in, we were those hands.
chain / ˈchān / noun. I. a series of links or rings connected to or fitted into one another and used for various purposes as in, we used a chain to attach the mattress to the top of the car when we moved II. a series of links worn as an ornament or insignia, as in, that summer when the temperature reached record highs, I wore my ring on a chain because it wouldn’t fit on my finger, and we didn’t have the money to get it resized III. a group of things that are connected to each other in some way, as in, we used paper chains instead of Christmas lights when the electrical bill was too high IIII. as in, the bedsheets were chains every morning V. as in, we were trying to break the chain VI. as in, everything happened as a chain of events.
weight / ˈwāt / noun. I. the amount or quantity of heaviness or mass, as in, the average grandfather clock has a weight of one hundred to two hundred and twenty pounds. II. a burden or pressure, as in, we felt the weight of your career more than I realized when we moved III. as in, you carried a weight even in your sleep IIII. as in, you transferred your weight to me by our second year V. as in, we felt that weight together VI. as in, we felt that weight together.
ca·ble pul·ley / ˈkā-bəl ˈpu̇-lē / noun. I. a wheel, with a grooved rim for carrying a cable line, that turns in a frame or block and serves to change the direction of or to transmit force, as in, we set up a cable pulley to drop a basket from the treehouse we built when we were still hoping to have kids, not knowing we would move within the year II. the part of a grandfather clock that helps suspend the pendulum, as in, the cable pulley was becoming tarnished III. as in, I asked you to clean the cable pulley with the polish I bought you IIII. as in, the cable pulley mimicked us, the way it pulled at something V. as in, I asked you to clean the cable pulley and you cleaned the whole clock.
key lock door / ˈkē ˈläk ˈdȯr / noun. I. a usually swinging or sliding barrier by which an entry is closed and opened with a key, as in, was it you who left the key lock door open at the back of the house last night? II. a means of access or participation, as in, we thought the move would provide you new opportunities, would be a key lock door III. the door on the front of a grandfather clock that holds the pendulum and cables, as in, you needed to use the key lock door to clean the inside of the clock IIII. as in, we lost the key to the key lock door V. as in, you told me it was my fault that we couldn’t open the key lock door VI. as in, your heart was a key lock door VII. as in, help me, I can’t get in.
plinth / ˈplin(t)th / noun. I. any of various bases or lower parts, as in, your grandfather built us a plinth for the moondial II. the bottom of a grandfather clock, as in, I always tripped over the plinth because it jutted out farther than the rest of the clock III. as in, the plinth broke after about six months when you threw the plates after that fight about why we had to move in the first place IIII. as in, that was the day you broke the plinth and smashed a hole in the drywall V. as in, you never did fix the plinth VI. as in, maybe that’s why the clock stopped working.
pen·du·lum / ˈpen-jə-ləm / noun. I. a swinging lever, weighted at the lower end, for regulating the speed of a clock mechanism, as in, I noticed your eyes dart back and forth following the pendulum on the grandfather clock, while I tried to keep conversation over a plate of cold pasta. II. something that tends to move from one position, condition, etc., to the opposite extreme and then back again, as in, your face was a pendulum every six steps as we passed under another streetlamp, that shadow going in and out III. An object so suspended from a fixed point as to move to and fro by the action of gravity and acquired momentum, such as the way we didn’t “fall” for each other, but we kept swinging, drawn by some planetary force we didn’t know the name of, as in, that feeling we had when we knew it wouldn’t work out but we wanted to try anyway, as in, your indecision, as in, my indecision IIII. as in, how something changed, something about that acquired momentum that I don’t quite understand V. as in, the way your mind felt latched to that idea and it kept coming back, it kept coming back VI. as in, how our conversation went before we tumbled into bed VII. as in, my mind when you said you wanted to leave the window open so you could hear the crickets, even though the tear in the screen would let in the mosquitos. VIII. as in, how we fought about that window, back and forth, back and forth IX. as in, I knew something felt different that time. X. as in, when I found you, the next morning, you swayed like a pendulum, noose wrapped around your neck wrapped around the basement beams XI. as in, how I couldn’t stop thinking of you, and you kept coming back, you kept coming back.