"Hi Helen," the Governor said when his wife entered the room. "Hi, Babe," she said, took her seat, and, shortly thereafter, killed a bug. "Least I'm good for something," she joked. In truth, the First Lady spoke infrequently, but when she did, Thorpe—an author and journalist—successfully and quietly advocated for cutting words (and then cutting some more) and focused on word choice. "I'm just wondering about the word, anxious," she said. "How about eager?"