Carl Ellis November 1928 - Diary
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"They have left, finally. All of them off to their respective homes, or to wherever they feel needed. A blessed relief to see them all, and too, a blessed relief to see them gone....
"Perhaps, despite my good intentions, I shall be up until dawning again. 'Tis always the way, after a Gathering. So much to set down before the memories fade...."
From the diary of Pierre Farquell
18 November 1928; Arkham, 3:15 AM --'
His words; more than seventy-five years gone, and still so clear. They mean much more now.
I felt at first as though I ought to open this book with something clever, something important-sounding. But important-sounding things have a deplorable tendency to sound trite or hollow when re-read later; therefore, this. A simple beginning.
And here we are.
The Gathering. First in years, since 1921. Twenty-two of us collected together: To meet, to talk, to laugh and to argue; to share, to plan, and to dream.
To honor the ones who are gone; and to begin again, I hope, to rekindle a spark of the dream. A beginning -- yes. Please let it be a true one.
They have laid the mantle of leadership upon me. Formal acclaim, unwanted or not; the elders as well as the new. A unanimous vote of confidence, both heartening ... and terrifying.
It is like SG says; now they are depending on me. Arc approached me after, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Carl," he said to me. "I remember what happened to the last two leaders we had. I'm sorry."
The party was GOOD! All those people, all the ideas ... there were some terrific debates! Like a live wire -- vital -- immediate! Unexpected and rewarding appearances by Alex Chase, and Sir Cedric Fentingmore, back from somewhere distant and strange. Odd to meet him at last after all the build-up. Funny little monkey of a man ... possessor of quite a brilliant and incisive mind, but on so many things we disagree.
It is difficult to forge a new Family, and so hard to tell what has just been born. This Gathering has not become what I initially hoped for ... our simple, intimate hopes for closeness and caring have become impossible. The thing has gotten too large, with too many people with too many needs and plans. Nevertheless, it has begun.
Now, we must build -- must wait and see.
Miss Durrell was glorious as Speaker for the Dead. I was moved, truly moved ... and so were they all. Clear, precise in the light of the single candle, and with each name, a blow felt around the circle, eyes flinched in sorrow at an unrecoverable loss. We were together, then. All of us. Remembering.
They all banded together against Miss Crawford's letters too. Mrs. Chandler. How sad! I do not see why she did it -- but she has driven them all away, knowingly or not; she could not have created more anger and repugnance had she set out to do so. A tragedy ... so many of them will never speak to her again -- and have asked me never more to use their names with her. Such a beginning. Sigh!
The unveiling of the Treaty was almost anticlimactic by comparison. They listened; they read; they agreed to poner, to suggest, to visit and study Zelda, and ultimately to decide. No fuss, really. Will it work? We shall see.
A moment of quiet truth, after dinner. The Ten all gathered in the breakfast room and closed the door in private conference. After their open support a few moments earlier, I was worried and upset by this schismatic act, but after twenty minutes I was called in. "We wish it understood, Carl, that we are no longer a separate group. Do not single us out because we are Trained ... we join you fully and wish our difference forgotten."
Well! Such a surprise -- and so obvious that they did not understand. I told them that they were welcome, wholly equally and joyously; but I would not condone such a forgetting. What they were, what they had been, was part of them and part of us, a rich tapestry of experience linking them to a lovely and noble history. Remember it with pride, for you have been something great; let your experience help us all to grow. Welcome, I said, and took them all in warmly. It was a heady instant.
Impressions, before I get back to work; I shall not sleep this night:
- Tony squiring Alexandria around, as belligerently proud and nervous as I've seen him, obviously possessive and doting; - Theo's words, after the vote: "Please, Carl! I believe that what you do is sometimes necessary -- but be careful what you choose to do!" - Alex's words, about the NSs: "Can they be helped? Can they be saved? I have fought all my life to drive them out -- but if they can be cured, I HAVE TO TRY!" - Emerson's appearance: Haggard, thin, unhealthy from lack of sleep ... but with a fierce excitement in his eyes that makes me uneasy. - Lazlo; and Tony; and Alex: Promise us, Carl: Never tell Meagan anything about us! - Julian, glowing glorious gold at dinner, so proud and happy for her man I could burst with it; - Hollyfeldt's stunned disbelief, when at last he was introduced to Alexandria.
Oh, so rich, so rich! The jokes, the laughter; the suggestions to Clay that he Cross soon, or else he'll die first! Such a marvelous couple of days!
And tomorrow -- today -- it concludes, with plans and assignments for all. The Turkey group leaves in the morning by air; the others less precipitously, each in his fashion. We shall stay to Friday, and go to Tony's Thanksgiving.
And all of us will meet again, at the Big House, in July! A ritual re-born.
Oh! Oh!
In silence, my heart sings.
Monday, 19 November 1928; Arkham --
Once we begin, we move quickly. A number of tasks assigned, though most do not start up until after the New Year. Sunday was devoted to interviews and long private talks with various folk. Maddy arrived at last! Only too late for all the fun. She looks splendid, and is on her way to the Estate for private study.
Tony, Gordon and I went out to the Reservoir site early this morning to looksee. We took Andrew's warning very seriously, and went well equipped with protective masks and garments. I am glad we did.
The place is foul; eerie, gray and dead; encrusted with sickness and a patina of phosphorescent grey ash ... and something more. Nothing lives there, save for the Thing in the well. Andrew warned us. It is all indescribably repugnant.
The water in the reservoir has not yet approached the dead spot, so there is still time. We collected samples and took a lot of photographs of the things we found. Of special note, the bodies of the two farmers are still in the old house after forty years, simple piles of bone and unhealthy grey ash. They never sought to leave, and nobody thought to seek after them, or give them proper rest.
When I clipped a sample from one of the dead trees in the yard, every one of the trees shuddered like a live thing! There is something there yet, binding everything together into an unhealthy semblance of function.
The well is the center of the place. The water there is thick, murky, bright with the taint of the thing. Its bottom is fouled with bits and pieces of ... prey. Bones, hair, jewelry -- I was so frightened, I wanted to leave more than anything lest It should awaken or return and find us unprepared.
Egghhh! Poison, death, corruption.
When we left, with our samples carefully placed in sealed containers, we left our gloves and galoshes and other outerwear there. The feeling of contamination was too strong -- we wished nothing of that Place to touch us! I am more than ever convinced that this alien thing is somehow connected with the Plague.
I HOPE the folk in Turkey will be careful!!
All in all we collected more than enough convincing stuff to show the Medical Examiner's people that the place is unhealthy and should not be allowed into the water supply. Gordon will now do some work with the samples to try and put a more formal conclusive face on the thing, and I shall get the photos developed. I'm sure Clay will help. We're all meeting tomorrow morning at Gordon's to plan the next move -- such a relief to be able to do something decisiv, legitimate, and above-boards!
Eh. I took two baths. I felt unclean.
A letter from Hannah Rhyner was waiting for me back at the house. She is well, but is concerned. King, it seems, is paying her rather more attention then she feels is strictly cricket. Why?
Doesn't sound cricket to me ... either!
She has been ensconced somewhere with this Cromwell as her protector. Something is very wrong in Chicago -- Are we being betrayed?
Maddy spent some time with Carl, says he is openly and gleefully infatuated by Zelda... I am scared. This is not like him! He seems to have lost sight of what we are up to, of his own part and purpose -- what seduction is this?
I shall not be caught --- Lord! How pompous and grandiose I sound! -- I do not wish to have our fragile little band caught up and torn asunder by the desires and politics of the Nightsiders. Emerson's obsession, or seeming obsession, with Zelda is unexpected and alarming. Vigilance! Vigilance! She has needs of her own, they all do; I feel threatened.
The whole thing reeks suddenly.
I called Alex Chase up to talk to Gordon about what we've found, and this evening I shall go to speak with Carl and Zelda myself.
Much Later ---
Better ... a little. Long interesting talk with the two of them; I am in some measure put at ease. For the moment at least, I no longer feel that she is merely being devious ... she, as Zelda, seems honestly to care about him quite a bit, though it is not really a human sort of affection.... and I thing I begin to see the measure of their masks. They are not piecemeal things, but wholes; difficult to change a piece without changing it all.
But Zelda will not always be Zelda. Someday the whole will change, and what then? One of the importances of the treaty is that it defines standards of behaviour that are external to the individual.
Curious to note that perhaps her interest in Carl may be the one thing that keeps Zelda Zelda. That "keeps things interesting," as she might say.
Yet, despite all this, it does not improve my worries overmuch. It is not Zelda that occupies my thoughts; it is Carl,. Carl seems to have decided suddenly that all of his responsibilities can simply be "put on the shelf" while he runs out and plays! I can certainly understand some of this -- after all, he is more or less locked up with Zelda and ought yo try to enjoy his incarceration -- but what of the rest?
- What of his ongoing investigations? - What of his experiments? - What of Pembroke, whom he is guiding? - What of the Children who are supposed to be in his care? - What, dear God, of Mrs. Williams? He no longer seems to care. It is not that he has forgotten about her, no; but he dismisses her from conversation! Where, now, is the intensely caring fellow who has asked her to marry him? Who has been her devoted friend for years, and her protector? Where is the man who vowed, ashen-faced, that whomsoever so much as touched her would be destroyed at his hands? He has heard from her, as I have, and he dismisses her worries offhandedly, between telling me of a wild gin party he is planning and reassuring me that "he knows what he is doing."
Sure, he knows. Hah.
Tuesday, November 20, a928; Evening in NYC --
Events move quickly still, and I am even more upset and worried now.
Theo and I have stopped in New York City this evening, on our way to Washington. I took the opportunity to develop our pictures of the Dead Spot at Carl's house. The luminescence does not show up well in the prints, but the barren devastation of the site is starkly clear.
We met this morning at Gordon's house to discuss the Plague situation. Gordon showed us the results of some tests he's done -- very grim. He fed some of the well-water to a mouse or two ... within minutes it was dead, and less that twelve hours later the poor creature was literally flaking apart before us, the body decomposing into loose flakes of grey ash!!!
Like the farm. Like the farmers.
Tony brought along his huge body of notes and documents taken from the clinics. We shared them around, and were dismayed by the lethality and virulence of the stuff.
There is no way around it. We must go public.
So, three parallel plans:
ONE: Gordon is putting together a preliminary review of the things we found at the Farm. Together with my photos, and the autopsy results done on the poor mouse, this will be put in Clay's hands tomorrow, for presentation to the state Medical Examiner's office. Our goal is to get them to stop the flooding of the valley before this nastiness gets into our water supply. At least, Clay's report will get them to send their own investigators to the site. Its danger will not be questioned.
TWO: Once this is done, probably by tomorrow, Gordon will start work full-time on the problem of the Plague. The notes and samples which we have, of the various forms of Disease, make up a substantial body of work with which to begin. We shall cover his expenses, and arrange for the eventual creation of a research facility where we may continue study of all of these things in safety. Alex Chase has a serious interest as well; perhaps he will also take part.
THREE: Theo and I are taking the bull by the horns, and are now going to Washington to present the Authorities (in this case, a friend of Theo's in the Secret Service) with a carefully trimmed case showing the existence of a conspiracy of unknowns to disrupt the peaceful livelihood of our nation, and possibly others as well. We spent hours yesterday and today working out the details; I am convinced that we may do this without implicating ourselves or our friends in any of the criminal things that have happened. It will be such a relief to pass it on to competent authority!! But scary too -- VERY scary -- to lose control of things this way.
The biggest danger will be of the Dark discovering our little plot through their people inside; so we have emphasized the existence of known conspiracy members in and near the government, and the likely existence of other unknowns.
We shall see. Brr! Scary -- but it feels good, too ... Things -- IMPORTANT things -- are moving at last!
Wednesday, 21 November 1928; Washington --
Another night spent on trains, and a late morning arrival here, in the nation's Capitol.
I have never been to Washington before, and I really had no idea what it would be like. Oh, one reads the stories, and hears all the same descriptions of monuments and governmental houses as all the other schoolchildren, but once again experience has no substitute.
My principal regret is that I have had so little time to see it now -- and I have been, understandably, distracted. Someday Julian and I must come here to explore this rather impressive place. But, I suppose, it is best that she is not here now, else I should constantly be waiting for Marklin to leap out of the shadows and try a grab!
Hum.
Washington is broad and park-like, spread gracefully along the banks of the Potomac. Everywhere, newly-wintered trees spider into the sky, the last few leaves still clinging to their branches.
Central to it all is the Mall, a broad sweep of open land that stretches a couple of miles, from the river to the Capitol building. Across the river lies Arlington, where the Great War's thousands lie buried. And, midway between the Capitol and the Potomac, the George Washington Monument spears into the sky, like Cleopatra's Needle grown impossibly huge and graceful in a dream. Five hundred fifty five feet of smooth white marble, looking down on red brick mansions, elegant hotels and theaters, the galleries, the museums, the great Library, and of course the White House, lovely classical mansion not far from the Monument's foot.
It is a city of memorials and symbols, and an inspiring reminder to me of what this nation truly is. America! How unfashionable, these days, to praise her name so fervently ... yet here, and now, I am filled with patriotic love for this great homeland. Everywhere here is simple artistry, renderings in stone of homage to the Principles on which this country stands.
Truth! Freedom! Liberty! Equality! How much more they mean, now, than before. America is made by the hands and lives of men, a flawed but glorious earthly attempt at Unity, carved from soil and spirit. I am inspired.
We met Theo's friend in the afternoon, in a small room-behind-one-of-a-thousand-identical-doors sort of place. A pleasant fellow, obviously holds Theo in high esteem; and once we laid our case, he was quite concerned and serious about the whole thing,
The evidence was laid out just as we'd planned, including the admonishment about possible high-ranking conspiracy members; he very convincingly agrees that something must and will be done.
So -- the die is case, the arrow loosed from the bow. We shall never know what steps they take, or what, precisely, they find; the thing will be done very quietly, by Friend and his trusted comrades. If we learn anything, it will be through Theo, and long after the fact. We shall also have to curtail our own activities in certain areas -- else we might be caught up by the folks who, unknowing, are our allies! But it's done. Now we can look forward to another long train ride through the night; then I shall be with her once again.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. The three hundredth one, more or less; I forget precisely.
Amazing, how much I have to be thankful for.
Thursday, 22 November 1928; Boston; Evening --
Fate twists us cruelly, it seems, and it is as well that I have a sense of humor and perspective, else I should be bitterly angry as well as merely cut to the core. I look upon my last line above and laugh, but it is not a happy laughter.
No surprises getting here. Washington to New York to Boston; long but peaceful. The others met us at the station. It was good, it was good: Prodigal sons come home, reunited after a successful venture. Good: to shake the others' hands, look them in the eyes, and know that we have done well.
Simple pleasures. And of course, my lady was there; feast after famine. A look, a smile, a touch; silly words spoken small; and that tremulous radiance that fills me, golden and warm to the heart. Complete once again!
The trouble began when we arrived at Tony's house. That is when we were shown the article, and knew that the Dark has started firing back.
They have loosed the Plague. People are starting to die.
The article is small, of interest but little alarm to most folks. It describes an outbreak of influenza in a region near Kansas City. Twenty or thirty people have already caught it and succumbed... it is clearly a warning shot, a threat aimed directly at us. There can be no other reason ... and the non-coincidence of JOSEPHINE RINGER as a Health Service spokeswoman is too deliberate to ignore:
"You have hurt us, but we are strong. Tamper no more, or we shall obliterate the things you hold most dear!"
There was much anguish in the house, and much heated debate, but the simple truth is that there is nothing that we can do, now. The stuff is too easy to distribute -- whomever was there is now long gone.
Still, the shot has been fired. It changes everything, in small ways. It is one more thing to point to -- one more bit of evidence.
And I must confess this: that te first thing I thought of, when the shock had settled and the icy chill ceased numbing my brain, was: "Thank God! Thank God we got to tell our story first. They would never believe us now."
Those poor people. What a loss And they will never know why, nor believe it if they were told. The victims of a war that has now truly begun: the Enemy has started killing civilians.
...but we were guests in Tony's home, here for the holiday festivities, and so it was our duty to join them in good cheer. Difficult at first -- but they were so friendly, so homey, that it became easier after a while.
Impressions: Grimaldis everywhere! Actually there are only the three -- Tony, and his aunt and uncle -- but all of their Family friends are cut from the same cloth. Too, the elder Grimaldis are both naturally charismatic; they fill the room for several. Gracious, used to wielding authority, yet not pushy. Nice folk; even if I have a hard time condoning their way of life.
(Yet ... are we so different? Sigh.)
We -- our people -- easily dominated the table. It must have been a bit uncomfortable for the others; we so diverse, and so unknown. Rebecca was there, and Carl, and Zelda; and the three of us; Theo; with only three Grimaldis and a quartet of "friends", how strange indeed!
I do not know what we are to do.
Friday, 23 November 1928; westward bound --
Again! Another blow! It does not stop, does it? No! Oh, I know, I know it is no firther sorrow, we were merely living in borrowed ignorance. I should not rail on so; but the magnitude of the loss fills me -- and I feel the touch of blame in it too strongly to set it all aside.
Today, the President-Elect, Herbert Hoover, died. Of the Ponic Plague, I believe; the Kansas City Flu, they're calling it now.
What a disaster! DID THEY KNOW???
It seems his train passed through Holliday, Kansas a few days ago.
How could they have been so sure? Or, did they seed the place because they knew?
Westward bound. I have nothing more to say.
Monday, 26 November 1928; South of Oregon -- Another day or two and we will be home. Home. It seems like forever.
We passed through Montana yesterday, Bigtimber some time mid-morning. Less than fifty miles from his house; one could not see the peak from the train. I wonder how he is? Wrote a letter, in a passing mood of extravagance; he should have it by the time we are home.
I have been poor company these past few days. So many things have happened! From Gathering to the Reservoir, Washington to the news of the Plague, all in a week's time. It has affected me. Up and down, elation to despair. More than anything else, I have been impressed by an enormous sense of BURDEN.
The task just seems so impossible sometimes.
I feel as though I should have so much to say. So many thoughts on the subject. I must, I suppose; yet none of them are clear, none articulate enough to write here. Merely a blur of washed, turmoiled emotions, and scattered fragments of scenery I do not recognize.
Thank Heavens for Julian.
We left Friday morning from Boston, on a grey windless day rather suited to my mood. The route we took was northerly, through Chicago, so as to miss the quarantined area.
Damnation! Still it hurts!
Chicago, through Minnesota, and along the Great Northern tracks to Seattle. We came close, again, to Lucius' island, and to ruined Wintershaven.
Enough. This contemplation hurts my mood.
Wonder how he is? Have heard nothing so far.
I feel as though we're fleeing the scene of a crime.
...Julian, as always, has been very helpful. Thank God for her! She is used to my moods, and is so good for me. Jewel beyond price indeed!
Home. Two days.
Hurry.
Wednesday, 28 November 1928; Home --
At last! It feels so good to be here! The healing is beginning, amidst my things and the enormous amount of work that must be done after a long absence.
There has been a lot of rain, so that even though the watering cans are long empty, the window boxes are green and the cat is healthy. It is easy to see where he has been living: there are well-marked trails of dried paw prints and shed fur between the kitchen, the door, and his favorite haunts. Quite a creature of habit, our Peanut!
The yard is overgrown and the lawn is rank and uneven ... but it is wet winter now , and most of the gardening must wait 'til Spring. We shall, however, plant new seeds for Rachel's indoor flowerpots, so we will have blooms inside where it is warm when the frosts come. That will be soon.
Ah, home! Evening now -- the radio playing a fugue, the fireplace filled with light -- Ah! So nice!
We arrived shortly after one and set things right and switched things off before collecting the Children. The house and lab were undisturbed.
Now I can feel the relaxation coming over me. Flicker-flicker; and glimpses of new things too, plots and plans for the new year. - Will I hear from New Mexico? - Will King accept the latest Treaty? - Will Theo's friends find the plot, and cripple it without being destroyed? - Will WE? - Will Gordon be able to help us? - Will the Old Guard have success in Turkey, or Byron and the rest in Ithaca?
And, too .... What what? How can I help? What is my next move? Hmm....
I am filled with a desire to meet my House once again, now that I have met the others, now that I know more of what to look for. But, I think, not now. Not tonight -- not while the fire burns, while the music plays and the rain caresses the roof overhead, and my beautiful girl smiles at me from the throw rug by the hearth.
Oh! I feel like a King!
Saturday, 1 December 1928; At Home --
Quietly busy ... and a few things are starting to move. Received King's last package today, full of responses to my most recent offering. I was interested to see how this stuff would go over, as it contains those amendments made as a result of the Gathering. Now I have my answer.
King sends me a long list of objections and corrections. Some are his, some are the others'. I have been impressed with two things about this list: how many more items were on there than I expected, and how trivial they were, by and large.
The Nightsiders are hairsplitters.
I suppose I have known that since our last face-to-face meeting.... but it has been impressed upon me once again. There are elements of ritual in all of their speech, their writing, that must be observed if they are to be understood. Such a curious phenomenon: it is as though the thing which gives them life, the Condition, whatever lies behind and supports the mask, has no real intelligence or understanding of its own -- as if it is only the mask which can think or deduce intuitively.
Imagine. To have a mind, perceptions, desires ... but no thought, no intelligence, and little memory to provide continuity. No wonder they need the masks so!
It may be thought of, in a sense, as the same sort of communications problem as that of exchange with the powerself. The Nightsiders are hybrid creatures ... and the mask is the part that thinks and remembers; it is subordinate to the part that lives, which is little more than a beast!
That is an important element of the King's proposal, in my estimation: it is a way to give the man supremacy over the beast some of the time.
We, however, must do our part as well. We must learn the signals and rituals that the beast understands. Only in this way will we truly be understood -- for in the elders, no doubt only the beasts' needs are of value.
I shall have to speak to Carl. He will need to learn -- and then to teach us all -- the ritual and language of the others.
Good! A purpose. !important. Salvation?
...So I have King's list. It will not, I think,m take me more than a day or two to re-draft my response ... and then we will be ready. We may be able to move up the date! I should like to see Mrs. Williams free by Christmas; I shall call king tomorrow, or the next day, and see if this is possible. Then we shall begin.
Received a call from Carl yesterday. (Wish I had known about the Treaty stuff then!) He telephoned me to ask if there was anyone available to help Franklin Scott (of all people!) on some kind of archaeological dig in Ireland. Unfortunately, most folk are busy or out of touch for the moment, and will be until the new year or so.
Maybe we can discuss it at the Signing.
For the interim, I told Carl to send me the details and I would distribute them as I could.
I Visited the house yesterday too. After my Visits to the Estate and Amûn, I thought it might be interesting, with a different perspective. It was.
The house is easier to find, now, since I know what I am looking for. The signs of its adult form are clear to see ... but that maturity is yet far away. Channels and structures have been created,m within the house, but the Wellspring flux is not yet "trained" sufficiently into them. The paths that will one day be solid arabesques of shining light are now merely brighter regions within a dimmer fog.
This child is very young.
Stupid, too. And awfully self-centered. What little awareness there is, is of the house. Not the contents, never the grounds. The only real recognizable "structure" that is already present is the barrier. And even that is tissue-thin.
Maybe we ought to call the house "Big Peanut."
Thick frost last night, and the ground was frozen this morning. I love the feel of frosted grass when one walks upon it; Crunch, crunch! Introduced the kids to it today, reactions mixed. Also noticed a crack in one of the lab windows this afternoon. I shall order a new pane on Monday when I go into town.
About time, too, to start Christmas shopping! Oh boy -- the carols, the tree and the stories. A & R have no experience with these things. Well, it's never too late to begin!
Blessings of the Season. To all of us.
Sunday, 2 December 1928; At Home --
Spent most of the day thinking, and working out alternate responses to the list King sent me. I wish we were in closer communication. When I am done defining our position, probably tomorrow, I shall call him on the telephone and discuss alternatives. If we meet no insurmountables, this pile of notes will be typed, carboned, and sent off to him.
More and more, I think we will be able to finish before Christmas!
Frost again this morning, and the kind of heavy fog that seems to come with bad weather here in the Valley. Tulee fog, they call it. And, sure enough, the rain began about noon. Nearly dinner now, and it is still coming down.
Hope it stops before morning. Rain is such a difficulty, when one wishes to go shopping.
Monday, 3 December 1928; At Home --
The rain did stop, though none of us made it to town today. I worked late into the night, finishing the document, and put in my call to King this morning early. We discussed which of the various approaches was best; all that remains now is to type the final draft and send it off. Already since the call I have had some thoughts which I shall embody in the finished document ... things that are innocuous or simple now, but which hold great promise for the future. One is never certain what they will object to -- but I believe it all will pass.
That project, however, was shelved for the day.
Shortly before noon we received a visitor. A Mister David Crawford, of all people; Meagan's brother, the "Rake." He is, it seems, a Government field investigator, and I am indirectly responsible for his arrival.
Crawford has been put onto our case. Theo's investigation into conspiracy, and my own. Yet he is not here because I am a prompter of the investigation, he has come because he was given free rein by his employers, and because his sister told him that I had a lot of information about matters obscure or arcane. Huh! So -- he was fishing for lots of things, including names of others to see and subjects to look up.
He also, he says, wishes to join our activities to his own for the common benefit of both.
This last I feel less sanguine about, for several reasons. First, he already serves another master, and we cannot ensure that the two will not come into conflict (Tony's Kentucky letter comes to mind.) Second, his attitude is the same one I have seen so many times, that "you obviously do not know what you are doing so move over and let me lead you the RIGHT way" approach that is supremely hateful. Third, I will not saddle him or others without their knowledge; and fourth, I hate to say, he is a Crawford and a conduit to his sister. I feel unworthy, that some of these sentiments are ones I ought not to hold; however my people are my responsibility.
We spoke at length for the afternoon. I repeated for him the story told in Washington -- he saw through some portions of it, but not most -- and brought him up to date on the public version of that end of things. I gave him Theo's name, and his telephone number, and now must write to Theo and warn him that the man is coming.
No shopping today at all.
Tuesday, 4 December 1928; At Home --
Typed up the Treaty draft this morning and took it into town to send it off. The rain of the last few days has mercifully faded to a rather dispirited drizzle, which does not impede me much. Then I spent the afternoon shopping, hee hee!
Holly berries, and a cake; a pair of new records; some new clothing for the kids and Julian; a few toys and games; some decorations, some books; and a car.
The car, of course, is the big surprise. It will not be here until Friday. A brand-new maroon Model A. Such fun!
Re-reading earlier entries. I am struck, suddenly, by a sense of similarity between the Plague, the Glow, and the Condition. Add it together: Her sensitivity; their use, and attempted recruitment of, the Nightsiders; Avila -- vampires, the Glow, AND the Plague, where they all come together under one hand...!
LOOK!
There it is! TYPES of a thing! Ponically aware -- gaseous or micro-organic -- and ARE the Flu and the Condition so different? Fusion! His.
Likeness.... likeness ... and that implies what? Similarity of essence, or of action? The Glow -- bodiless, carnivore, what does it consume?
Life force.
And the Nightsiders: the hybrids: they sense it, they drink it -- AND the blood? (Didn't he always say, the life force was in the blood?) Didn't we already KNOW?) Food for flesh, food for spirit.
HOW can I use this?
The Dead Spot. Dear Lord -- They are in danger.
Ladyejan (talk) 18:53, 7 January 2014 (PST)
Imagine: could the Flu be an UNDEAD bacterium? Ee-yuk! What a horrid thought! And not strictly true I suspect. So consider the opposite: Are impact sites like the Dead Place the origins of the Condition?
It has to come from somewhere.
I have to tell Gordon -- but what precisely should I say? How much does he know about vampires? Dear me, what a quandary. This is rich indeed. Rich, and dangerous.
Again, again ... Avila: caught and created them. Lived by the Dead Place. Cooked up the first Plague. And the infusion of the Energy, as part of the concoction ... !
Again! "Power is fuelled by the life force; it is guided by the Intellect." Is it Power they see? Or life force? Or both?
What, again? What what what! I feel, once more, as though I am tiptoe-ing around the edges of a key, a fundamental essence, a basic SOMETHING. But, as always, it eludes me.
"The Blood is the Life." Gawd. In print, even!
!!!!!!!!
This is going to be a long night.
Wednesday, 5 December 1928; At Home --
Having spoken to Andrew Scott, passed on my warning, and assured myself of their safety (the party is hale and hearty in Ankara with little to report; they've not yet been to the Mansion or the Dead Spot) , I turn attention to domestic matters. I spoke to the Children about plans and the future. Not an easy task, this; for one thing, as Julian points out, they must be approached separately, otherwise nothing will come out of it. (She was right, as usual.) Adam I am teaching the craft, which he is good at, and I think that the responsibility of running the workshop and lab will both be good for him and help assuage his urgent desire to DO THINGS. With the coming of Spring there will be sand-lot ball and teenagers all over town to meet and get to know. If I can convince him of the urgency of not seeming too different, I think he will be happy in the coming months. No; my concerns are for Rachel.
What a dear thing she is, and how carefully she needs to be nurtured! So fragile; the same things that would make Adam thrive and grow would crush her. She needs a quiet, peaceful home, filled with smiles and soft laughter, surrounded by green growing things.
I, we, cannot give her all that she deserves. Not now. Not while the needs of the job are so great. Yet I do not want to give her up; it hurts to think that I might; not only would I miss her, and she us, it would surely feel as though we had betrayed her trust in some fashion. I cannot help but think of my own distaste when I imagined Julian left to rattle around Wisphers for all that time ....
Yet that is precisely what I am contemplating.
They will not willingly separate, yet what each needs would make the other miserable, and I am not enough of a parent to bring it all together while I am away. Am I?
France for both? Perhaps. I do not like it though.
Letters out to Theo and to Gordon, and a whopping great big one from Lazlo! The core of the things is King's report on Eveling, Chandler et al; long, diverse, and tentacular enough that it bears multiple readings before I may view the whole of it; but for me the real meat of the thing is Lazlos' own letter.
What a marvelous thing! Not happy, really; but so FULL! It wavers back and forth between his usual objective distance and the sort of intensely personal dynamism that rivets one to a book, or makes an orator's fortune. He has seen some of my letters to Emerson -- Carl loaned him one or two of the more frantic ones -- and they have touched him. Intense, intimately passionate .... How can he possibly feel that he has lost through this?
Cuba. One hand, Cuba; my letters on the other. he walks a fine line in shadow, poised between love and remembered fury, an awareness of joy and an awareness of desolation equally personal.
But, he has seen. Touched. Grown. Ahh.
That joy. Yes; how lovely. Another beginning. I only wish I might soothe his fears more easily. Such a passionate man he is; so good to see the echoes of this change.
/// Ah! Think, man! Columbo, in '19! See! To know to grow to BE the quarry -- Again! Clues in the past, so obvious in retrospect. Ah! ///
Passion without vision. A necessary start, perhaps; but a true danger to him as well as a beginning. The doorway has changed! All of them have -- but he will not be consumed if he does not deny.
\\\ It touches me, too -- Beware, I must not lose the whole for the part! Else I am only the half-breed of the accusation. The fullness of the power, AND the futility! \\\
And he dreams. But what does he dream?
His first step is a true one: Her. But I think he still does not see the fullness of it. Thought without knowledge, knowledge without thought; where is the balance, the happy medium?
To thine own Self be true; God is within thee.
Huh.
We must come to him in the Spring. If there is time.If Miriam does not make it impossible.
So; he talks -- and talks -- of the Light and Colbert and so forth. Light! Dark! Names to him, things without substance, and what are they? He treats them as objects, distances himself in speculation; "the need to prevent, and even destroy, the Dark where they exist and do."
Philosopher! Augh, Lazlo -- we must talk.
Thursday, 6 December 1928; At Home, Afternoon --
Spoke to the Children last night. The results surprised me, but in hindsight, they were for the most part expectable. Rachel wants to go to school; she will be going to France after the New Year. A shall try to arrange a tutor for her, perhaps the person who is giving young Ian lessons would be willing.
Adam's case is sadder. He dotes on the girl, and the possibility of their separation has devastated him. Oh, he is strong, he does not bend ... but his heart has been broken, silently, from within.
Parenting is difficult. I grieve with him; I want to shield him from all of his grief, and I cannot; but it hurts just the same.
I need to continue our talk later, perhaps tonight. He would be happy to take over the lab ... but all alone, here, in this house? Not good for either of them. Possibilities suggest themselves. If we may reach an understanding about Rachel -- then perhaps he too need not be alone.
Lord. Watch me manipulate. The worst kind of parent: Lax, yet sneaky.
Rain, rain, rain. A sodden day. What am I going to do?
-- LATER --
Things will resolve themselves one way or another. They are neither of them unintelligent or unperceptive. Ad they understand themselves and each other rather more deeply than I might have given them credit for, had I not been watching and listening all this time.
Rachel is going to France. Adam is staying here. His choice. It is a chance to be away from the pain. Maybe.
Some concern, here, over the bond that exists between them. It is uncomfortably like a bondsman's link -- or even a Balance's. Not well exercised, but very real. Rachel says it has been there since the first day she remembers after the Promise... but she does not have any idea how much time she has lost to the White Men, nor what occurred during it. She is afraid, now, that she and Adam may have been "married" then -- even though she does not recall.
What a horrid thought -- and all too likely. Damn them! Is there nothing they will not desecrate?
I have not yet asked Adam what he knows. Dare I?
Oh, I do not want to abandon them! It hurts to contemplate -- how I shall miss them so! Rachel will be happy I know ... but the thought of Adam rattling around alone here with no one to talk to, even to say hello to in the mornings -- Eh!
There must be some alternatives. Oh, help, help, help, help. I am sad., So sad.
Christmas. Rain -- and blustery wind -- and Salvation Army Santas huddling under the awning at the five-and-dime. "God's Birthday," shrugs Adam.
The Ford arrives tomorrow. Rachel and I are going shopping.
Christmas, and the Treaty coming up. What other blows are in store?
Friday, 7 December 1928; Evening At Home --
Still rainy, but at least it is not pouring down; rather, we are blessed with a slow steady drip-drip-drip that is curiously peaceful. Received a call from Morriss about two o'clock, and went into town to pick up my automobile. How nice! The smell of a new machine, all oil and leather and a certain indefinable freshness that was complemented by the rain, rather than being detracted from by it. Picked up the mail; letters from Carl and Mrs. Williams, about which more later, and joyrode about a bit just for the pleasure of owning the thing, trying it all out.
Later, Rachel and I returned to town for some shopping. The girl was absolutely overwhelmed by it all; she has never been out in public before, at least not when she was expected to interact with others. All the strangers! All the NEW THINGS! And money -- how does it work? Why do they give us change? Who is santa claus?
Imagine. Who is Santa Claus?
We bought candy, and books and records for the holidays, some groceries, and a few select gifts for Christmas. Rachel knew -- literally -- precisely what Adam wants most, so we did our best to find it: a Buck Explorer's folding knife. Lord only knows where he saw one, that he wants it so precisely, but it shall be his come Christmas. The difficulty, now, will be to keep it all secret. My own gifts for the children have not yet arrived from the mail-order, and I cannot discuss what either of us found for Julian lest Certain Persons read this entry, but suffice to say the day was a smashing success. The girl was terrified -- but enormously excited also. She bought a bag of giant penny jaw-breakers, and for reasons known only to her insisted that the big blue one was for Julian.
No more talk of marriage, though.
The more I think about it, the more concerned I am about the bond betwen them. It is undisciplined, nearly uncontrollable; they seem nearly unable to keep things from one another. Something must be done; if the thing is here to stay, then both of them must learn to handle it. In any event, the situation calls for expert help. Someone needs to look at them. Hmm.
I wonder what Adam thinks?
Hmm... the letters. Yes. Bad news all around; but between the lines, not in them. Carl is falling further and deeper into his infatuation with the Nightsiders (in the form of Zelda), sees them now as the brutal but innocent victims of centuries of unfortunate hatred and superstition. "Noble savages" of a sort, who may someday be redeemed and brought to civilization.
Eeshh. Crawly, makes me. Even if he is right, he is also wrong. There is no one ignorant here but us.
As for Mrs. Willams -- She is under pressure. King is coming close to violating his promises to me; I am more determined than ever to wrap this thing up soon and free her from his grasp! It seems that other members of the community have come to know of her, and are trying to seek her out. Her protector has already had to destroy one -- the details were not given. An interesting fellow by all accounts; everyone I know seems to hate him, yet she cannot praise him highly enough! I wonder what the story is that I am not hearing. A doctor. With a lot of the taint in him. His skills and perceptions might prove invaluable to Gordon's work ... once we broaden Gordon's assignment to include the Nightsiders. Consider -- is it possible to immunize against the Condition?
I doubt it. I cannot imagine a leucocyte that could stand up against a poniphagic killer. Still, there may be something. Some bastion against the tide.
This is no betrayal, King. Your people are safe from me... but, like you, I have plans that your people might cry foul about, if they knew.
Lots of plans. Hopes -- and little time to make them reality.
Must get a tree before we leave.
Saturday, 8 December 1928; Downtown --
The rain has stopped again, hurrah! The newspaper says that the next few days will be dry ones. Hallelujah, I say.
We all went out today on a shopping trip. Our first family outing! All bundled together in the family Ford. How prosaic. Makes me smile. Lunch at Alice's on Monroe Street, with Adam watching all the people while trying not to be caught doing it, and Rachel taking the food and drink service in stride but flabbergasted every time the waitress smiled or spoke to her. Such fun.
Now, the girls have scooted off together, causing secrets to be born, and Adam is loose out there with three dollars in his pockets and a world of ingenuity in his head; and me? I have been buying paper, and strings, and ribbons, and things for the tree, dreaming up ideas for gifts for our friends. Simple things, not extravagances. Finding the right thing takes more than money; and what do you find for the one who has everything?
For Zigfried, a finely woven carpet. For Maddy, a leather diary and a box of Eskimo ivory; for Lazlo ad Julia, a silver coffee service; for Byron, a smart new hat and a monogrammed attaché case; for Theo, a marvellously intricate astronomical clock that I saw at an auction in Boston; for Andrew, a carved oaken hatrack; for Meagan a necklace of jade flowers, and for both of them a carved crystal pane. For Alexandria a teardrop pendant and for Ceryous a pair of driving gloves.
But what should I get for Clay? For Tony? Or Carl, or Miriam, or Alex Chase? These people I care about, I should be able to come up with just the right thing. Haven't found it yet, though. So I sit here in Alice's, coffee at hand, and watch for the others to return.
Julian will know. She always does.
Postscript -- A fancy compass for Clay? J's idea, and a good one, though more than that is deserved I think. For Miriam, a music box and a note of apology for our curious pagan practices. Have to be small -- I want it to be bring-able when she comes. Alex ... Alex ... something in crystal. A tabletop, for a sunny room? Something for the family to enjoy. Aha! Carl and Clay both -- get elegant evening coats ... possibly a grey camelhair, very Civilized.
Tony is always difficult... but for him, the finest world atlas I can buy. He needs maps -- yes.
... I cannot get the thought of Adam from my mind. Oh, Adam, dear boy! The look on his face! Lord, how I hurt for him! His world, his dreams, shatter and burn -- and in the silence I hear only sobs.
Yet what can I do? Perhaps separation is best ... yet how can I help heal this pain that hurts me so as well? Such a burden he has held, all the years -- a burden of memory, a command to protect -- he must break, eventually. The weight is too great. Bitter, bitter. Damn them all.
Sunday, 9 December 1928; Home --
Industrious me. It seems easy, these days, to be a virtuous and diligent worker in the afternoons, when I have spent the entire morning loafing first. Delightful after years of prompt arrival at the factory ... I hope I never entirely get used to it.
Yesterday was very good for me. I am much in the spirit of the season now. New phonograph records later tonight.
Today's project was wandering around the house and grounds, making written notes on all the things that need doing to keep the place up. Doors, windows, keys, food, utilities, mail, oil, firewood, laundry, dishes, the lawn, weeds, bicycles, money, the alarms, the lab, the baker, the butcher, and so on and so forth. What a lot of it! In the end I shall have made a sort of booklet of names, procedures, helpful hints for Adam. He need not actually use it ... but it will be there.
Awful lot of work though.
New Ceryous Outt letter. Rather an apology for the previous one. I do wish he would come out and visit, but he will not. Ah well. His gift is on the way, and a white linen overdrape for the back of their sofa too.
Must remember to send Lisel Harden a card.
And then, when all my lists and inspections had put me into a meticulous and slightly weary mood, I sat down to reply to Mister White's letter. He wants to play in our game -- and some of the things he has said make me wary. In particular he sounds as intolerant of the bizarre and different as the best of them (and I am thinking of the Nightsiders here.) I hesitate to think of how he might react to some of out more open-minded efforts!
So I wrote, and it's gone. I told him we appreciated all his help in Cuba -- but that our counsels were our own, and that we were best off keeping them that way. Was it the right thing to do? Even now, I wonder.
Poor Carl. How he must think we disdain him. All he got from us at Gathering was alarm, or pity, or concern .... He is wrong to reject all our efforts to counsel him, but he is right to decide for himself!
I only wish I could be more sure that he is capable of making those decisions on his own just now.
Sure or not, however, he is an adult. I must allow him the freedoms I insist upon for myself!
I believe I owe Carl an apology.
I will write to him, tonight or tomorrow. This whole business -- which I got him into -- has opened a rift between us that must be healed. If it is not too late; if I even can LIKE this strange new man he writes of; then it behooves me to try.
Such a strange letter, his last ... almost as if he knew what I felt a need to say before I did. Hmm.
Tomorrow.
Tonight is for Christmas stories.
Monday, 10 December 1928; Home. --
Here at last! Now! It is done! The treaty is complete -- King's last comments and corrections have arrived, and they are trivial. Nothing! In two hours I was able to draft clauses and repair the breaches, and King, on the telephone, confirms them. We are ready!
Now, I must write the formal draft. Oh, there are so many people to write! Everyone needs to be notified, and they all require copies of the thing. I do not think I have enough photo paper in the lab -- but what I do have will be gone tonight. And the rest tomorrow.
We shall set it for the twentieth. She will be HOME for Christmas, if I have a say!
Carl's letter has gone out too. I went to the post with it; that was when I received King's stuff. Maybe he will get a packet and the letter on the same day. If I work fast enough.
Eleven o'clock, same evening --
Eyes burning. Mouth dry. Fingers sore. Black smudges everywhere, and no more carbon paper. Thirteen packets done, mailed, gone. Everyone else has gone to bed; I am tired too.
More than half of the packets out. I feel a tremendous relief, a lightening of a burden. The arrow is in the air, we are finally committed. Now I can relax.
We leave for Chicago on Saturday.
Tuesday, 11 December 1928; Home so far --
Wonders don't cease. Another promise redeemed. El Juan has answered my letter.
The messenger arrived during lunch: a boy. Quick, travel-stained, alert, he was hungry so we fed him. A vagabond at our door, until he delivered the note.
El Juan has agreed to my request. We shall meet. That I must rearrange all my travel plans to do it is merely irksome; a price paid for a thing of value.
The boy speaks only Spanish; wonderful exercise for me! I have not so much as thought in the language in nearly nearly a decade -- it is amazing how much of it may be persuaded to return with only a little prodding. So we spoke nonetheless, and I am quite proud of myself today.
I wonder of the boy will be there when we speak? I think perhaps he will. Hmm.
Most interesting, more even than the descriptions of Juan's life, were the questions the boy asked me on his behalf. Was I one with the changed blood, one "who lives very long?" Was I alone, or had I a wife, a friend, a companion? And other things -- proper questions all for one in my place. We have measured one another, through this wise-eyed youth; when we meet, he will know something of what to expect.
I did not mention the children. Julian was a trouble for the boy, at first, until he found out that she and my wife were the same person. The expression of relief on his face was almost comical.
Juan wants to meet me alone. In the most inconvenient place! We will have to move more quickly than I had wished, and not stay so long in Mule's Eye. We can do it though.
But, to go without my lady --! I will be so deprived. It is just not the same, alone. Ever.
Wednesday, 12 December 1928; Still Here --
Depressed, dejected, impressed with the deadly weight of the burden of my duties. Sometimes the only thing to do is to lose oneself.
I have been thinking again. The past; the future; the ominous foreshadowing of what may be. I am afraid.
So I spent the day mapping the paths to the Blind Dance. It helped, a lot ... now I am merely tired, drawn out and empty. I am once again at peace with myself. For now. I know already that it will not last.
Wrote another letter to Andrew White. More of an apology for the first one. Hmm... tomorrow we go treeing. Adam and I. Therapy? Perhaps.
We need to touch -- my people and I. Pompous? Could be -- but the need remains. We must travel, must touch; must talk; must grow together.
Are you at peace with yourselves, and with your friends?
There is a chance here -- like a glimmer down an overgrown path. A glimpse that feels right, but how to make it real?
Sometimes I feel as though I am losing the vision. It guides me, sustains me ... but more and more I cannot truly taste it myself.
It is time to move. Something must be done.
Friday, 14 December 1928; Home Again --
Shortly before dinner of a long day. Gordon called me this morning to report. Seems he is doing well and prospering. For all of Tony's worries about this Lanter fellow (and for all that I tend to agree with Tony!) Gordon at least seems supremely pleased. Says the fellow is brilliant though unorthodox, and he gets results at speed.
Gordon attributes the death at the Dead Spot to the action of a phosphorescent mold which he says permeates all the samples we took from the place. This does not sound right -- it explains neither the moving trees nor whatever yanked back at my bucket! -- but it is a start. He has described the activity of the mold (nasty stuff, grows through and within the unfortunate host!) and more importantly, notes and charts a fundamental similarity between the mold, the Type I, and the Nightsider disease!
Imagine my surprise when that came up! I have been reluctant to discuss the NSs with him for obvious reasons; but Lanter, apparently, a) recognized the similarity on his own, b) went looking for corroboration, in the form of a vampire, c) found one, in the form of Zelda, d) through her, made contact with Emerson, and e) managed to persuade both of them to part with blood samples which he has subjected to exhaustive testing!
Well! Quick results, indeed! Did he know just what he wanted to find?
All of this is very suspicious, but not criminally so. You may imagine, though, that I shall certainly ask Carl about it when we meet one another next week!
Treeing yesterday. Just the two of us, back to the same farm Tony and I visited last year. Good therapy for AdAm... but not enough. He thinks. And says little. But attacks the trees with angry, suffering gusto.
Quite a hike getting the Bush back to the car. Adam is not so strong as he wishes ... but he insisted on carrying the heavy end, so I let him.
He keeps asking me: Will she be all right, Sir? Will she be safe there? I tell him yes, it is the safest place I know ... but in my heart I am unsure. Safe from danger without, certainly. But who can be sure about that within?
Now the tree is filling the living room, alive with bulbs and baubles. The entire place smells so nice, so piney-fresh. Where is the joy that should go with?
Rachel has it. And Julian. And, when she smiles at me that way, or touches my heart so gently, so do I. Oh, so do I.
Poor Adam. How lonely he is.
Tomorrow we leave. A week, only; but I dread leaving them. Oh hush, they'll be fine, they'll be fine....
Silence! (Poor Adam.) It's Christmas! (How lonely.)
Ho, ho, ho.
Saturday, 15 December 1928; Sacramento --
In the train depot, waiting for our connection. Julian admonishes me to leave well enough alone and enjoy the trip. Oh, shes right, she's right; it is merely difficult to let go. Thank Heavens I have no real children of my own! I should have gone bald, and lived my life in dark corners, counting fingernails.
And I DO enjoy it! Every time! These trips we make, these travels, are always a joy to me, whenever she is here. Away from the familiar, away from people who know us, we are released, freed from unnamed yet omnipresent burdens. It always astonishes me, how happy I am, these times. We touch, we smile, giggle, laugh, make faces, chase each other around, simply enjoying the frowns and astonishment of our fellow passengers. They simply do not understand.
Love does it! SHE does it! My life. Julian! I love you forever.
Sunday, 16 December 1928; The Rockies? --
We have spent the day traveling through ugly, rugged terrain. No, not ugly, it is serely beautiful; but I should dislike having to farm here. All rocks, dust, jagged outlines; towns and gardens vividly out of place like windowboxes. Patches of snow on the ground; I hope the tunnels are not closed.
For the last couple of hours the terrain has gotten higher, more mountainous. I believe we are finally entering the Rockies from eastern Utah.
The train is cool; so much the better for snuggling. We have a window, we have each other - yes! - It is more than enough. Who needs to eat or sleep? She electrifies me.
Dinner may be our only meal today.
Monday, 17 December 1928; Nebraska? Iowa? --
Somewhere flat anyway. We have paid little attention to our location this trip; we, after all, going to the end of the line.
I feel reborn. Vital. This vacation has done me a world of good. Or perhaps it is merely my golden girl. We had only been home three weeks, after all.
Late rising, long afternoon naps, exotic evenings. That is, she drowses, not I. My time has been spent pathfinding. A couple hours here, there ... o, it is not enough, I may never understand that road completely! There is so much of it, and the new turnings are so difficult to pick out!
I do not mind. WhenI tire of seeking, I return... and here she is.
Home.
Tuesday, 18 December 1928; Chicago --
Arrived a couple of hours ago, in time for a bath and dinner in our rooms. Checked into a suite -- luxurious and practical, if there are to be meetings. In a little while I go to see King.
Tony is already here; a message was waiting when we checked in. I shall call him tomorrow.
LATER -- Tony called me, as I was on my way out. We met for late dinner after King's appointment. The meeting with King was interesting: oscar W and Madame will not be signing. Oscar for obvious reasons; but Madame G is in the grip of something peculiar, a thing that makes King profoundly uneasy -- perhaps because he's not seen it before. Some sort of ultimate dissolution? I do not know.
Good to see Tony. We had dinner with Alexandria. Both well, but my! How he dotes on her! Things, it seems, have continued since Gathering. She will be joining us at Christmas. Rebecca as well, although Tony intimates that there has been some trouble of late between he and she. I cannot say I am surprised.
So: Tomorrow is for shopping, and setup, and single meetings with whomever shows up early.
Wednesday, 19 December 1928; Chicago --
Stupid stupid stupid! Blind! Yes, I mean me! Took Theo to point it out: I have been viewing this alliance for so long from an us-and-them perspective that I had lost track of the original purpose of the thing. Thank heavens for Theo -- he quietly pointed out one small clause that would have barred any of the Avowed from signing! Boy, do I feel like a simpleton!
Fixed now. I shall clear the fix with King tonight.
Today was shopping. Icy gusts & flurries of sleet, but my word, they have a lot of fine stores here! All kinds of goodies are now mine: To keep, to carry home, to send away. Got Carl's & Clay's (lucky I had the flysuit lists!) and Tony's (but he doesn't get it yet!); Miriam's and Alex's are sent, though they won't arrive til next year (hah!); and most of the rest have long since been on their way.
Today was writing. A half million Christmas cards, including ones to Lisel H. and to my family, and a letter to Andrew Scott about Franklin. I shall have to speak to Arc about Samuel, Tony about Rebecca ... but in any case I should feel much better knowing he was on top of things.
Today was business. Arrangements for tomorrow's meeting room; talks with Tony, Alex, Theo; a phone chat with Lazlo, and with King. This is getting exciting.
My Word, I forgot. I must send cards, at least, to the Turkey people, Gordon, etc! Tomorrow, I suppose. Should've thought of it sooner,. Gah.
Thursday, 20 December 1928;l Midafternoon --
We're on a brief pause. Such a lot to do! And so many new things to consider. Not all of them pleasant.
The meeting went well. Quite smoothly. Remarkably so, I think ... even Tony has agreed to sign, though I was not sure he would. We meet tonight to do the deed. Us and the ten of them. It makes me pause.
Then, a few moments ago, Alex drew me aside. He wants me to go with him tomorrow to meet Dr. Scott. It is a complicated and unpleasant matter, but the gist of it is that he believes Scott was possessed by an Elder thing at the time of the murder; and that it, not he, killed the woman. Without this knowledge, it is an open and shut case.
No court in the world will admit it into evidence. Therefore, says Alex, we must.
He wants me to sit in judgement on the doctor. To try, and if necessary to condemn, him. If he is acquitted, to help free him; and if he is found guilty, to pass sentence.
I cannot do that! Can I? I have no right! Have I? I have no authority! Do I?
And yet -- who does? WHO DOES? Who else will hear the case fairly ... and admit such supernatural evidence as is necessary with understanding?
I told Alex I would go with him, and that I would hear the case. It feels like my duty --
-- but what a burden! It does not feel proper, does not feel RIGHT for me to do so! Yet I must. Lazlo has agreed to come also. To him, the whole thing is very simple: Did the Doctor CALL the Elder thing of his own will? Or was it forced upon him? And, is it gone now?
I feel very bad about this. Very bad.
LATER -- The meeting is over. I have the document. King, Zelda, Galileo, Ariel, Icarus, Diamond, Lee, de la Fer, Vandervecken, Hardín, Moth, Maguire, Hunter, Rowdybush, Lee, Valentino, Christian, Voisin, Hippocrates....
Nine of us; ten of them. Mrs. Williams is free again; I spoke briefly with Mr. Cromwell who does not appear to want much of anything to do with me. (Remarkable, how indignant that makes me feel!)
Lots of plans, arrangements. A start; I feel drained. So many people, flying about in myriad directions! And tomorrow I must meet and hear Doctor Scott.
It seems as though I ought to have more to say about the Eight and the meeting. I do not. It is done -- cast -- a fait accompli -- and, except for their fascinating personalities, their loves and hates, there seems to be little TO say.
No; my mind is already on tomorrow.
I have thought - and thought - and thought through the past hours, even when I ought to have been attentive to other things. I still do not know what to do.
Julian agrees with me: This "judgement" is a bad thing. For me personally it is improper; and for the group as a whole, it is a dangerous and irresponsible precedent.
We should not mildly contemplate thwarting Justice for our own ends. The only reason I agreed to be involved at all is because the Court, and not the Law will through unknowing prejudice ignore or discount evidence that is vital to the case. We have no thte right to rewrite laws of this country, or to ignore them for our own convenience! That way lies dangerous arrogance. It is a road I wish to avoid.
No... no... the Law is not the issue, not in spirit anyway. What matters here is responsibility. Did he fall or was he pushed? Did he kill or was he used? Yes; these issues are vital.
It all falls back onto the Doctor. They say he is "once again sane." But is he?
Who may properly judge this case? ONLY HE. Only the Doctor himself may take the choice ... IF he is capable, IF he is responsible enough to do so. Yes, that is right. Not Alex; not me, not the Court -- HE. The Law is for handling people who are not capable of shouldering these burdens. We ourselves must be so capable -- otherwise we ought not to be in this Fight.
Accountability for one's own actions.
Is Doctor Scott capable? Responsible? Honest? Then let him judge his own case -- I take as my task the job of deciding his fitfulness to be that judge. Let us then be the jury; let the judge pass sentence.
Now -- what if he is NOT so capable?
Scott is not one of us. He has never been called to responsibility for his own acts. The dreadful Friedman-like anarchy of former days must not continue; I will not help him if that is what he insists upon. I will rather bow to my hypocrisy, and allow the man himself, or the Court, to determine his fate -- for I am not responsible for his crimes.
But what of free will, then? Is he to be allowed no redemption? That's not right either! Does he understand the wrong? Does he regret? Does he repent? WILL HE CHANGE? It must be his choice; but if he does, I say he ought to be allowed to have it.
Thirdly, How much of his will is free? if that thing did the work, how much control does it have? Is it still there?
Is he a perpetual danger to us?
I think it is our job to see to it that Doctor Scott is his own man, capable of judging himself. If that is possible, then he will decide his fate. If not, then he is not as sane as he seems, and he stays here, a clear and present danger. Only if he is set free, without and within, will we address the issue of his participation in the Family.
That will be a thorny path. Many folks will not trust him -- perhaps ever.
But ... that is for the future. Now -- how will I tell Lazlo and Alex, so as to make them understand?
Friday, 21 December 1928; St Louis at Dusk --
Up early early this morning, after a very late night last evening, thus am feeling a bit worn. To the hospital by nine o'clock after a brief but heartfelt explanation of the stuff on the previous pages . They remove shoes, ties, buckles, anything stiff, hard or potentially dangerous (including my glasses!) and all things in pockets, jewelry et cetera before allowing entry. Daunting.
Scott ... looks sad. Pale, thin, beaten. And all silent and closed up, like Andrew fighting off a rage. Not an encouraging sign. But he seems rational. Cautious, careful, unsure of how much to say in front of strangers (us); lots of Ten manerisms showing through clearly. Funny -- it is like nostalgia; no matter how much they always irked me, it is such a pleasure to see them in him, this stranger. Like a familiar signpost in a foreign land.
Lots of talk, back and forth. The end result is yes, he thinks he is responsible -- he himself -- but that the thing is still stuck to him tenuously ... enough to watch, and perhaps to act? So the point is moot-- he is too dangerous to release by any means -- unless and until that Thing is removed.
First order of business.
"Physician, heal thyself" -- they say he is a "soul healer;" Alex, Zigfried will spearhead efforts to ward him and free him of the attachment. Until then, he is not "sane." Further, it is unsafe to try him ... the Thing might conceive of a threat, and show up and "defend" him against judge, jury, spectators, et al. Certainly execution is out of the question!
So -- he is not sufficiently rational. Zigfried, it is hoped, can state this case until the people and the tools are amassed sufficiently to attempt the surgery.
On that note we ended ... there was little more to say to him.
Next, we packed and headed for the airfield. Our pilot, Jacques, was friendly but brusque, and did not want us anywhere near the controls; the aeroplane itself, a twin-engine Boeing, is endlessly fascinating, but extremely loud and often uncomfortable.
Several hours of bumpy, noisy flight; even this excellent aircraft is wearying. I am no aerobat I fear ... the prospect of two more days of this daunts me. We scooted into Saint Louis just at dark; at least we shall sleep in fine hotel beds! A small supper and early to bed -- we rise at dawn.
Thank heavens for Jacques' competence. Winter flying is no picnic. Tomorrow we try for Albuquerque, or even Tucson, and we HOPE that the ugly storm front in western Texas does not head North or West. Otherwise we may never make it home.
Ten o'clock. I wonder if Carl has read his letter yet?
