Wordplay

Wordplay
W/C 239

The policeman got out a notebook, a pen. “Okay, what’s your last name.”

“Walker Reklaw.”

“What? Say again.”

“Perhaps you’re deaf. Let me say this again.”

He poised his pen over the notebook. “Okay, what’s your last name.”

“Reklaw Walker. Or if you prefer, Walker Reklaw,” I responded.

“Is that a joke?” The policeman pushed his cap back on his head.

“No, I’m as serious as a stroke. It’s very simple. Perhaps you’re dimwitted.” I sat back in the chair, stared at the ceiling. This was all so boring. “My last name is the same as my first name. My first name is the same as my last name.”

Mr. Policeman jumped to his feet. “I should just put you in jail. For being a wise guy. Are you on drugs? Are you drunk or somethin’?” He kicked the chair. “Maybe you’re just plain stupid.”

“It’s called a ‘palindrome’.”

“A pal-in-drone? What in god’s green earth is that?” He looked at me with real interest.

“A word that reads the same forward or backward. Seems I was named after a town in Texas.”

“Huh, you don’t say. Very interesting. You’re under arrest.” He broke out the cuffs.

“No extra credit for having an unusual name as a joke?”

The cuffs bit into my wrists. “No. Dammit, I’m mad.” He wrote up my arrest on his form.

Great palindrome. I’ll have to remember that one. Joke’s on him.