The Entomologist Defies Definition

At the breakfast table, the entomologist mixes and measures instruments of longevity: vitamins and serums that support various aspects of the body and mind.
Preservation abounds in his house in nearly every sense. The solar lighting tubes and rainwater collection system preserve life on a large scale, while his study houses many small things preserved in both life and death.

A Black Widow spider guards her jar atop a terrarium.
A glance through the entomologist’s much-used dictionaries reveals many words that have been highlighted
and underlined. Rumor has it that every time the entomologist looks up a word, he highlights it to mark that it’s been investigated. Repeated inquiries into a highlighted word earn an additional underlining or a checkmark, and, according to loved ones, a small amount of irritation with himself.
Among these highlighted words:
Servomotor: A device for changing a small force into a large force.
Gorge (second definition highlighted): What has been swallowed.

A Tarantula, removed from a friend’s bathroom.
Desultory: Aimless, disconnected.
Canny: Cautious and shrewd.
Skylark: A Eurasian lark famous for the song it utters as it soars.

Specimens apparently collected in the entomologist’s house in February 2011.
Only: Alone of its or their kind.
Actual: Existing in reality.
Numberless: Countless.
