I Can't Believe I Read the Whole Thing!

   Last week C had to go to a meeting. I had the house to myself, well almost, because the cats were with me. I had found a book that I hadn't read for a long time. I got a glass of water, sat down on the couch and preceded to read.
  I needed to clean the cat box, but I told myself I would after I finished the chapter. I was at a good spot and didn't want to stop just yet. I finished the chapter but then had to move onto the next. Things were getting exciting you see, I couldn't stop. Colby jumped onto my lap and made himself comfortable. I absentmindedly petted him as I continued to read.
   There were dishes in the sink, but I could do them tomorrow morning. The main character of my book had run away from home. She wanted to play music, but her parents wouldn't let her. It was not considered to be work and also not womanly. I read about how she found a cave to live in and Impressed nine fire lizards. She made herself at home in the cave.
  The book continued to detail her life as she hunted for food to feed herself and her lizards. She made herself a set of pipes from reeds that she found. She had to find oil to use on the skins of her lizards, which required her to catch a certain kind of fish that smelled bad.
   One day she was out fishing when Thread started to fall. Thread was a dangerous parasite that could injure living tissue. Dragons breathing fire could burn the Thread before it landed on the ground so it couldn't burrow and cause damage. People stayed indoors when Thread was falling. Only the dragons and their riders went out to fight Thread. Menolly, the main character in my book, ran as fast as she could to get back to her cave before the Thread could injure her. She was too far away, but a dragon and it's rider saw her. They picked her up and took her to their Weyr, which is where the dragons and their riders live.
   I kept reading. The queen dragon had a clutch of eggs ready to hatch. I read about the Hatching and how specially selected young people were gathered around the eggs so that when the dragonet hatched, it could choose a rider.
   Menolly has written some songs and had hid them in the music room of her home. They had been found and the Masterharper, who headed the school that trained musicians, was looking for her. Would he find her? I kept reading. Colby jumped off my lap.
   I knew that I should clean the cat boxes and wash the dishes, but I kept reading.
   Finally I got the the end. The Masterharper found Menolly and asked her to come with him to the Harpercraft Hall to study music. She would finally get to do what she wanted to do. She left with the Masterharper to follow her dream.
   I sat for a minute with the finished book in my hands. I couldn't believe I had read the entire thing.It had been a very long time since I'd read a book from cover to cover in one sitting. It felt good. I got up and went to clean the cat boxes. I had no more excuse for getting that task done.
  Tomorrow I could read about Menolly and her new life in the Harpercraft Hall....
(The book was Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey.)