Fit to print

Myra Jean believed cleanliness was next to godliness. She picked up the local newspaper with misgivings. Why did the ink stay wet forever, staining her fingers? She had asked her father, a linotype operator for the Baltimore Sun, but that was one of the few things he didn’t know. He was a fount of wisdom with a brilliant wit. On his rare days at home, they would read the paper together, pointing out typos and clichés. Even today, the smell of newsprint evoked her father’s wry grin. He would have enjoyed this weekly rag; it was full of howlers.

 

via Daily Prompt, Weekend Writing Prompt, Flash Fiction Challenge, and Daily Prompt: Brilliant

Note: My grandfather and my mother both started as linotype operators in Colorado. When newspapers started using “cold type” (phototypesetting), my mom learned to use a computer.