Squiggles, Lines and Curves

It was called a typewriter, and it was full of fascinating symbols. By then I knew my letters and numbers, but these symbols were all new to me. Still, it was easy to guess what each one meant. There was ^, a straw hat like Granma wore when she gardened. ~ was the ocean. # was a checkerboard. * was the sun. And I knew instantly what > meant, for I was a smart boy, and had just seen Some Like It Hot on TV. “What could be greater than that‽” I wondered. “There’s even a symbol for Marilyn Monroe!”