Wordcentric Predisposition

I do not have any sort of scientific defense for what I am about to declare.
In fact -- I'm sure I could find some corroborating evidence.
But I'm not going to look for it.
I believe that there are some people who have a certain..... hmmm..... shall we say "temperamental framework" or maybe -- "word-centric predisposition"?
Wow.
I kind of like that. Wordcentric Predisposition.
[Notice how I even dropped the hyphen?]
I just "googled" the term and got no hits on it, so there you go.... I'm frigging INVENTING a thing.
In fact, Google will ask you... "Did you mean worldcentric predisposition?"
No.
I meant WORDCENTRIC.

When I was a kid, well, ever since I can remember, words fascinated me. I think that some sort of chemical rush occurred when I first fully registered the exchange of THOUGHT that was a result of my interpreting the words of an author.
For instance, someone a century dead can still speak to me clearer than someone breathing into my ear. Using only second-hand typeface? REMARKABLE!

To so commit oneself to those that shall outlive us. I HEAR you, Mr. Hardy. I hear you. And not only this, I agree with you, I feel the same way!
[Can someone get Steven Pinker in here to elaborate?]

And when I say "chemical" rush, I am not exaggerating.
I discovered books. It's like some sort of previously unused enzyme suddenly enervated my synapses in that moment. Convincing me, [with heroin-like urgency] -- that becoming more fully human would involve ever increasing dosages.

In Grade 2, I was already reading on such a constant basis, that my teacher [Mrs. Okrainetz...... she had a real B-52's-style bouffant hairdo] told my mother in a parent-teacher meeting, "I do not believe your child reads as many books as he claims to read."
As far back as then, I meticulously recorded every book I read. And I presented this Atrocious List to my teacher, as though it were some kind of extra-curricular assignment.

Why did I read like this?
Why did I carry books from the Library, by the armload.... and sit and read them while other kids played outside?
Because I was born [yes....... BORN] with some kind of wordcentric predisposition.
I am the only one in my family, so afflicted.
I'm convinced that if I were born in Neanderthal times, and a big elephant-type thing were to run past our.... cave-hole..... I would have been the one to point and say, "Mastodon."

Is such a thing a blessing or a curse.
I don't know. Depends entirely upon who answers the question.
It's just...... what it is.
It's something I cannot deny, because to do so, would be to deny my very being.
My best friend is a person who, when we walk through a bookstore with our Starbucks coffees steaming, says things like, "Wow. Look at all the shit people write!"
He has about as much use for the latest Ian McEwan novel as I have for....... a garden weasel!
Does my predisposition make me better than him?
No.
It's just that.... were each of us condemned to stare at a wall for the rest of our days, he would immediately want to kill himself.
Me?
My suicide plans would hinge upon whether or not a replenished supply of books was available.
Which is to say -- both of us would be dependent.
But on very different things.
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