James had spent weeks preparing for the big day. He practiced prefixes and suffixes, cognates and homonyms. The preliminary spelling bees had given him plenty of experience, and he knew what to expect going into the championship. Most of all, he had his eyes on that scholarship for the grand prize winner: $10,000, generously provided by a local corporation, Transformex.
The first five rounds were pretty easy, they were designed to weed out a lot of the competition. Now, there were just five contestants left: James, Ashley, Ben, Matt, and Veronica. As the next round began, James stepped forward and took his place at the microphone.
As he waited for his word, he noticed the judge put away the dictionary that she was using and swap it out for a different one, the cover of which was worn and leathery, the pages tattered and torn. He couldn't quite make out the ornate writing on the front of it. The judge opened the book to one of its frayed pages, and she looked up at him.
"James, your word is..."