Abating: English term for anesis: adding a concluding sentence that diminishes the effect of what has been said previously. The opposite of epitasis (the addition of a concluding sentence that merely emphasizes what has already been stated. A kind of amplification).
“I love you, but not totally. I need to control my emotions or I’ll go berserk. I know I’m mentally unbalanced. On a good day, I can’t see the forest for the trees. On a bad day I want to burn the forest down and throw hand grenades at the fleeing animals. ‘Oops, there goes another problem ker-plop.‘ This is the way it ought to be Miss Pinkwell, but I’ll call you ‘ Barbara’ since we’re heading to Mexico to get married.”
Wow! What day. I had Barbara, my 8th grade English teacher, all taped up. She was wiggling around, obviously doing some kind of tantalizing love dance in the car’s front seat. I was going to knock her unconscious when we got to the border. I will untape her and put a blanket over her so she’d look like she’s sleeping.
Barbara is my first girlfriend ever (aside from my mom). I could tell she loved me when she would call on me and scold me for napping in class. But, when she crossed her legs under her desk, I couldn’t stop panting and crossing my own legs too. She kept me after class one day and told me I was weird and that she was going to recommend to Mom that I should go into psychological counseling “before it was too late.” It was already too late.
I broke into her house and covered her with duct tape. Then, we took her car and headed to Mexico to get married. We lived in San Diego, so the Mexican border was not that far. We would cross at Tijuana. I could see the border lights ahead so I whacked Barbara over the head with a tire iron I got out of the trunk, and rendered her unconscious. I untaped her and put a blanket over her as planned.
The US customs agent asked me why I was going to Mexico. I told him “Me and Barbara are going to get married.” I pointed at the “sleeping” Barbara. He looked surprised and told me to “Pull over there.”
Barbara was regaining consciousness and was yelling, “Save me! He’s a maniac!” The customs agent said “Son, you’re a little young for her. You better back off.” Barbara screamed again as two customs agents dragged her to a holding cell. She was going to be investigated for having a relationship with a minor.
I got back in Barbara’s car and crossed the border. I got a job selling balloons and fake Cuban cigars. Since I had disappeared, Barbara couldn’t be tried. She was released, but the story of our “love ride” had gotten back to Long Acres Middle School. she was ruined, but she married Bill Slothburger when he turned 18.
I was heartbroken.
Two weeks after they were married, Bill “fell” down a flight of stairs in their new home and died from a broken neck. I felt a sense of relief and was ready to give Barbara another try.
Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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