I think you should go now, Sally said.
But we’ve checked you out for three hours! Leonard said.
Sally looked defeated.
So you have, she said.
They’re doing it! Felix said. Leonard, look!
The two adults turned quickly to look at Felix. His small face was rapt as he stared down at a page opened at random.
They’re dancing! he cried. Just like in Grandpa’s books, quick, look, the letters are dancing!
No one’s supposed to know
Before Leonard could see what Felix was talking about, Sally pushed the boy with both hands; he fell backward and knocked against a stucco frieze. Leonard rushed to stand between her and his nephew.
What are you doing, pushing a small boy like that? Are you crazy?
She pushed Leonard then. She was surprisingly strong and Leonard also stumbled backward.
Who are you? she shouted, her curls and headbeads trembling. Did you come here to make fun of me? All I have to do is press that alarm over there and Peter will come with his tranquilizing gun. He’s a Baconian too, and we take the Voynich very seriously!
You’re crazy, Leonard said. You just pushed a small boy against the wall because he has a reading problem!
I don’t have a reading problem! Felix said. It’s just the way I see things.
Then Sally shocked both man and boy by beginning to cry.
No one’s supposed to know! she said, slumping onto one of the swirly chairs. How did you find out? Did my oculist tell you? Is he a Cathar? I knew he was a Cathar! All that talk about light and dark! I knew he wasn’t talking about my iris!
We don’t know what you’re talking about, Leonard said softly, but if you’re in trouble, we’d like to help.
I need both of you to leave now, she said, blowing her nose into the dustproof cloth. Leave your gloves in the catchment box as you go.
But, Sally! Leonard said. We don’t know what we did wrong!
My name isn’t Sally, Sally said. Now go.
Grasshopper legs and the world of the demons
Leonard consulted the Brazen Head on his navigation watch about caravan times and then, because they had time, brought Felix to the (Nondenominational) University Eating Establishment to get him a snack of fried grasshopper legs, which Felix loved but today would not eat.
Can it be the Time between Here and There? Felix asked.
Of course, Leonard said.
It’s my fault, the boy said. I shouldn’t have said what I said. Now you’ll never get married!
You only said the truth, right?
Yup, Felix said.
I think she’s a little crazy.
I think she’s nice. I want you to marry her!
Me too, Leonard said, surprising himself. How about we find out what Cathars are?
Felix nodded and poured sesame sauce on a grasshopper leg.
The navigator watch didn’t have as many options as the screen Brazen Head. Leonard chose the window shopper, then pressed Speak to Me and asked, What is a Cathar? The window shopper smashed fancy store windows, grabbed shiny infofiles and hid them in his overcoat, then deposited them in front of the Brazen Head, which looked at them disdainfully and said:
“Catharism, also known as Albigensianism, was a medieval Christian sect that flourished in Languedoc and northern Italy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Considered heretical by the Catholic Church, the sect was all but obliterated by the Crusades and Inquisition; a remnant found refuge in our Great Land, where they now form a small but powerful faction. According to Catharism’s dualistic beliefs, an evil material world stands in possibly eternal opposition to a good, spiritual world. Personally, the Brazen Head believes the Cathars to have been influenced by Manichean dualism, though the Head recognizes that in holding this belief it bucks all manner of scholarly tide. Later, alligator!”
The Head stuck a finger in his ear, wiggled it about, and removed it to find, on its tip, a little woman, who was chased off the edge of the watch face by a black-robed man with an ax.
Not terribly illuminating, Leonard said.
It’s the demons, Felix said. Don’t you see? The evil material world standing in possibly eternal opposition to a good, spiritual world. He’s talking about Grandfather’s demons!
Give a girl a present
Leonard hoped Isaac would call with a Plan B, so he dragged his grandfather’s settee back into the no-longer-white room and spent the night there. Carol wasn’t back from her book group, so Felix, who didn’t love being alone in the dark, slept in Leonard’s room with Medusa.
Leonard wished he could get in touch with Milione. Mill was a man of the world: he would know how to woo Sally, or whatever her name was; he could explain what Leonard had done wrong.
But Isaac didn’t call, and neither did Mill. There would be no Plan B, no romantic assistance.
Realizing that Carol might be gone awhile, Leonard decided he needed to conserve cash, so the next morning, he packed a portable lunch consisting of jujuberries, some bridies, and cold revolutionary stew. He didn’t have any lucre himself, having given half his salary to Carol, always, for his board, and half to the pizza-greeter ministry. Now he wished he’d kept some: he wanted to buy a fancy sash or a swatch-cut for his afro.
We need to bring Sally a present, Felix said. So she’ll like us again.
Her name isn’t Sally, Leonard said.
Yes it is, Felix said.
He seemed very certain about this.
I’m not sure she ever did like us, Leonard said. She was just doing her job.
I’m sure she liked you, Felix said. Before she pushed you. What can we give her?
I’ve never given a girl a present, Leonard said. What do you think?
She likes books so probably she likes drawings. That book of hers had drawings. I could give her a drawing. What about a drawing of the demon world from Grandfather’s story?
Whatever, Leonard said. Sally probably wouldn’t even be at the library, and if she was, she’d refuse to be their Book Guide. He’d had one chance to find a wife and he’d bungled it! Still, Isaac had said the library, so after Leonard had supervised exactly five minutes of awesome karate kicks, they again went to the caravan. When the Service Desk assigned them to Dora, Leonard gathered his courage and said, We really enjoyed our conversation yesterday with Sally. In fact, we weren’t quite done when our time was up.
This isn’t our policy, the Service Desk said, so Leonard said, The young chap has a gift for Miss Sally, and Felix obligingly waved the demon picture. His sweetest little-boy smile did not soften the heart of the Service Desk, so Leonard said, Dora will be fine, but first the young ’un has to go to the restroom.
I don’t, though, Felix said.
Yes you do, Leonard said, and they slipped off, first toward the restroom, then following the path from the day before, through the talking-books room, past the scriptorium, down the aqua hallway, past the scholar tables, till they reached the locked bubbleglass partition.
Criminy, Felix said. What now?
I guess we have some jujuberries and wait, Leonard said, but they didn’t have to wait because along came a brisk someone wearing a senior librarian skirt who said, Chief Librarian Isaac said you were to pass?
That’s right, Leonard said. Both of us.
Right, the senior librarian said, looking puzzled. I don’t know any Chief Librarian Isaac, but he had access to my headset, and into the breathreader she blew.
Wow! Felix whispered as they continued along without her.
Between the two of them, they remembered every dark hallway and stairwell till they reached the staircase that played marches.