CLICK! Four down. I wondered how many other oxymorons I’d missed.

“The lamp shop was a brilliant suggestion,” I told Benedict when I got back outside.

He groaned, then said, “Hey, let’s try the hardware store. They have tons of stuff.”

“Great. Let’s lumber over there and see if we can nail down a couple oxymorons,” I said.

Benedict let out a groan that was loud enough to be a scream. He shuddered and shook his head, but he didn’t run away.

We went down the block to the hardware store and started looking around. One section was filled with all sorts of stuff for hanging things on walls. And there it was—a package labeled “straight hooks.”

That will make five, I thought. I raised the camera.

CLICK!

Now I only needed two more. Benedict and I searched the rest of the hardware store, and then ran around town until dinnertime, but we didn’t find anything else.

“Well, I’ll see you in school,” he said when we’d arrived at his house.

“Lesson I see you first.”I waved and headed home.

That evening, I couldn’t believe how many oxymorons I heard. They seemed to pop up everywhere. Of course, I’d never known about them before. But the ones I heard at home weren’t the kind I could take pictures of.

“Careful,” Mom told Dad when he was wrapping up some meat to put away. “If you don’t seal it tightly, it’ll get freezer burn.”

Freezer burn, I thought. Unfortunately, everything in the freezer was wrapped up, so there wasn’t any freezer burn to photograph.

There was an ad on the TV for a radio station that played soft rock.

Then Dad talked about a boxer he knew who was a light heavyweight.

Oxymorons were everywhere. But I still needed two more.

After dinner, I searched all around the house for oxymorons. I even opened our dictionary and tried to take a picture of the samples they had under the definition. No luck.

In the middle of all this searching, Kaylee came up to me with a book in her hand. “Read me a story?” she asked. She loved books. And she loved drawing pictures. So she especially loved picture books.

“Sure.” I figured that would be safe. Besides, I was ready for a break. I sat on the couch with her, opened the book, and started reading.

“Puns upon a dime, deer were tree litter pegs.” Oh boy, none of it was coming out right.

But Kaylee giggled and snuggled up next to me. “Don’t stop. I like the way you read it.”