Bone Pattern

Tainted Violets and Anise- September 17, 2014

I said I could not afford a copy of Tainted Violets and it is true.  I cannot.  August would trade the book for a favor beyond my ability to grant. Or for more shallow cash than I pay in rent on this apartment.  A lot more.  It is a rare volume.  I am lucky to even have seen a copy.  And of course there is no such thing as an ebook edition for almost all of the books in August's collection.  If such a thing is made, the book would pass out of the deep ad cease to be useful.

So, I can't have a copy of Tainted Violets.  But August let me read his.  Some of it anyway.  He let me read it and take notes.  And I was able to ask him about other known copies.

Apparently there are a few in other cities.  Less than a hundred were printed, close to a century ago.  Someone in the shallow world thought he had another Baudelaire on his hands, but Tainted Violets didn't sell.  They didn't seem like much to casual readers. Sometimes, a newly made thing can resonate with the deep world strongly enough that it falls through.  No matter what it was intended for.  So it was with this book.  It was printed and ignored and they dropped out of the shallow world. They have been scattered across the deep world.  Or so August told me.  He said someone called Sofie has one.  And Jude has another.  But he said he only knows a few of the copies.  Sofie traveled away west toward California years ago, apparently.  And no one has heard from Jude in years.

It is easy for things to become lost in the deep, and resurface in the most unlikely places.

I did ask August if he had heard of anyone named Anise.  Perhaps someone who taught others.  I thought that might be a possibility, based on her letters.

He said the name was familiar, and he looked into his records while I read.  Now, I have a place to send a message.  If Anise still lives.

But, back to Tainted Violets. It's a weird book.  It reminds me a little of the notebook that Fisher's map was hidden in.  Hard to follow.  This is more focused though.  Incantatory.  I got through about fifty pages today, before Gwendolyn began to cry and I took myself home so August could focus on looking after her.  Even in that space I could feel it begin to build.  Vague vapor starting to coalesce in my head.  I have never read anything like it.  I can understand why it is so hard to find.

"...small things curled into the earth, twine themselves around it. They wrap themselves in the graves as thought they wear cloaks out into the night. Grave-born creatures slip up, dive into the air.  Grave fishers plunging into wet and wriggling flesh."

That is just a tiny fragmet from my notes.  I can't make any sense of it.  But I can't stop thinking about it either.  I can see many more trips to August's to finish reading the book.  I found myself mouthing lines from it as I walked home from his house today.  Night fell upon me as I walked and as shadows drew themselves around me and the shallow city, I thought I saw other shapes in the gathering dark.  Rising spires that came up with the night.  That other city stalking my steps as I whispered words I did not understand.

I could not tear my eyes from the sky for a long time, and I am afraid I stood muttering on the sidewalk before my building for a long time before I managed to lower my gaze and come inside.

I did not hear from Wayland today.  Maybe it is for the best.

I wonder if he has read Tainted Violets.  I wonder why I didn't know more about this book before now.

I think I need to find a way to pay for my own copy.