of the four “O”s. (The last appearance in the vulpine-canine sentence.) The Council has gone into emergency session. What meaning to assign to loss of a letter whose removal leaves three companions still extant?
I carry a mischievous grin upon my lips. How will they glean? Whatever will be their ruling this time, now that Nollop has become strangely obtuse? We await their pronouncement. In the meanwhile, I eagerly await the arrival of my cousin, along with her new companion, Nate.
Love
,
Ella
NOLLOPVILLE
Wetty, September 27
My sweet Mittie,
This will be my last letter to you. I can write no more. Writing has never been an easy task for me, even prior to the loss of the fourth letter. It now takes a large part of my wakeful hours trying to make intelligible contact with those I love. I haven’t your schooling nor your facility with language. It compels all the mental energy I can summon simply to communicate orally with Cooney, not to mention the young ones.
I no longer bake cookies.
In your last letter you wrote of how unhappy you are. My hours are spent in similar melancholy. I am speaking less. There have been two slip-ups. The next will surely result in my banishment. I cannot leave my Cooney, my Sabina, my Geryl, my Ursula, as well as the one whose birth name we may never again speak. (She has chosen “Bathsheba” as a substitute, but it will take some time for me to become wholly comfortable with it.)
My sweet Mittie, it is strange, so terribly strange how taxing it has become for me to speak, to write without these four illegal letters, but especially without the fourth. I cannot see how, given the loss of one letter more, I will be able to remain among those I love, for surely will I misstep. So I have chosen to stop talking, to stop writing altogether.
Perhaps we will see each other soon. That is, if you are still here. Many, as you well know, are leaving us. Perhaps I may come to your house for a visit. (Cooney loves it there near the water. He says there is no better fishing on the isle than from the village pier near your home.) We will not speak, we two, but I eagerly expect to pore with you in warm silence over our musty high school annuals, aswell as those fox-worn nature scrapbooks we spent several beautiful summers lovingly compiling.
Pray for me, sweet Mittie. Banishment for me would mean my very extermination!
Love
,
Your Agnes
THE OFFICE OF HIGH COUNCIL
NOLLOPTON
Thurby, September 28
To Agnes Prather,
We write to inform you that in your letter to one Mittie Purcy on September 27, you chose to use in the line beginning: “Banishment for me …” a letter-combination containing one of the four graphemes presently unavailable for your use per Council Statute 28-42.
Please make note that this, for you, constitutes offense number three. It will be necessary for you to report to Barkation Pier Number Seven at 9:30 a.m. on Satto-gatto, September 30 for permanent expulsion. You may bring two suitcases. We will permit, also, one hatbox.
Sincerely
,
Hamilton Ferguson
Chief Secretary High Isle Council
NOLLOPTON
Thurby, September 28
Sister Mittie,
I have news. We may continue to use the letter “O” until such time as its brothers choose to fall. (Notice that I prefer not to attribute the recurrent plunges to the Almighty Nollop!) However, the High Council asks that we cut usage of the letter by twenty-five percent. I am curious to know how they plan to police this.
Tassie is here! She arrives as I write these very lines. I have not seen my favorite niece—can you believe it?—in almost six months. Nate accompanies her. He is everything that has been written about him. Polite. Very nice looking. I will wish him luck in his meeting with Mr. Lyttle tomorrow.
A little not-so-positive news: Amos has been caught in offense number two. In last night’s poker game. It was such a foolish mistake. It might have gone without report except that Morton who owes him money chose to
I carry a mischievous grin upon my lips. How will they glean? Whatever will be their ruling this time, now that Nollop has become strangely obtuse? We await their pronouncement. In the meanwhile, I eagerly await the arrival of my cousin, along with her new companion, Nate.
Love
,
Ella
NOLLOPVILLE
Wetty, September 27
My sweet Mittie,
This will be my last letter to you. I can write no more. Writing has never been an easy task for me, even prior to the loss of the fourth letter. It now takes a large part of my wakeful hours trying to make intelligible contact with those I love. I haven’t your schooling nor your facility with language. It compels all the mental energy I can summon simply to communicate orally with Cooney, not to mention the young ones.
I no longer bake cookies.
In your last letter you wrote of how unhappy you are. My hours are spent in similar melancholy. I am speaking less. There have been two slip-ups. The next will surely result in my banishment. I cannot leave my Cooney, my Sabina, my Geryl, my Ursula, as well as the one whose birth name we may never again speak. (She has chosen “Bathsheba” as a substitute, but it will take some time for me to become wholly comfortable with it.)
My sweet Mittie, it is strange, so terribly strange how taxing it has become for me to speak, to write without these four illegal letters, but especially without the fourth. I cannot see how, given the loss of one letter more, I will be able to remain among those I love, for surely will I misstep. So I have chosen to stop talking, to stop writing altogether.
Perhaps we will see each other soon. That is, if you are still here. Many, as you well know, are leaving us. Perhaps I may come to your house for a visit. (Cooney loves it there near the water. He says there is no better fishing on the isle than from the village pier near your home.) We will not speak, we two, but I eagerly expect to pore with you in warm silence over our musty high school annuals, aswell as those fox-worn nature scrapbooks we spent several beautiful summers lovingly compiling.
Pray for me, sweet Mittie. Banishment for me would mean my very extermination!
Love
,
Your Agnes
THE OFFICE OF HIGH COUNCIL
NOLLOPTON
Thurby, September 28
To Agnes Prather,
We write to inform you that in your letter to one Mittie Purcy on September 27, you chose to use in the line beginning: “Banishment for me …” a letter-combination containing one of the four graphemes presently unavailable for your use per Council Statute 28-42.
Please make note that this, for you, constitutes offense number three. It will be necessary for you to report to Barkation Pier Number Seven at 9:30 a.m. on Satto-gatto, September 30 for permanent expulsion. You may bring two suitcases. We will permit, also, one hatbox.
Sincerely
,
Hamilton Ferguson
Chief Secretary High Isle Council
NOLLOPTON
Thurby, September 28
Sister Mittie,
I have news. We may continue to use the letter “O” until such time as its brothers choose to fall. (Notice that I prefer not to attribute the recurrent plunges to the Almighty Nollop!) However, the High Council asks that we cut usage of the letter by twenty-five percent. I am curious to know how they plan to police this.
Tassie is here! She arrives as I write these very lines. I have not seen my favorite niece—can you believe it?—in almost six months. Nate accompanies her. He is everything that has been written about him. Polite. Very nice looking. I will wish him luck in his meeting with Mr. Lyttle tomorrow.
A little not-so-positive news: Amos has been caught in offense number two. In last night’s poker game. It was such a foolish mistake. It might have gone without report except that Morton who owes him money chose to
Similar Books
