"What are you talking about?" my mother asked.
"Well, think about it," I said. "It's easy to understand the word up when it means toward the sky or at the top of the list, but why do we wake up in the morning? In school, why does a topic come up? Why do I have to read up on the Civil War? Why is it up to me to remember to do my homework?"
"I see what you mean," my mother said. "I just was reading that the mayor is up for election. When I get to work, I have to write up a report."
"We call up our friends; we warm up the leftovers; and we clean up the kitchen," I laughed.[delete end quotation mark that was after laughed."] "We lock up the house. I hate getting dressed up. We open up a drain that is stopped up. It clouds up, then it clears up. Then we fix up the old car."
"You sound really fed up," my mother chuckled. "Or are you just mixed up?"
"I looked up the word up in Webster's Dictionary and it took up a whole column!" I said, almost ready to lose it. "I think it's time to speak up!"
"Don't go and stir up trouble," my mother said. "You don't want to wind up with a bigger problem, do you?"
"You're right," I said. "All this thinking has really helped me work up an appetite though. May I have some more eggs?"
"Coming right up!" my mother said.