Piranesi(36)

There was a pause.

‘Well,’ I said. ‘Thank you for looking out for me. I do not believe I would be so easily swayed in favour of a woman as you seem to suggest. Please do not keep things from me in future.’

‘Fair enough,’ said the Other. He frowned. ‘Anyway, how did you know?’ His voice became sharp with alarm. ‘You haven’t spoken to her, have you?’

‘No. I saw her in the Sixth North-Western Hall and I heard her voice. She did not see me.’

‘You heard her?’ The Other was even more alarmed. ‘Who was she speaking to?’

‘The rooks.’

‘Oh.’ Pause. ‘How bizarre.’

I decide to look up Laurence Arne-Sayles in the Index

ENTRY FOR THE NINETEENTH DAY OF THE NINTH MONTH IN THE YEAR THE ALBATROSS CAME TO THE SOUTH-WESTERN HALLS

The Other is right about one thing. I am not as rational as I thought. I used to smile (secretly) at the Other whenever I saw him acting out of self-love or arrogance or pride. My own actions were, I was sure, guided solely by Reason. But I was only deceiving Myself. A rational person would never have spoken to the Prophet in the First North-Eastern Hall. A rational person would have kept on cleaning the Pavement of the Sixth North-Western Hall until every trace of 16’s message was erased.

It is not the fact 16 is a woman that fascinates and excites me – or at least, not entirely; it is the fact that she is another human being. I want to learn everything I can about her – or as much as I can learn without going mad. (That is the tricky part.)

I have not told the Other about the message that 16 wrote. Nor have I told him that after I erased it there were little half phrases and sentences remaining and that I left these untouched.

… IS VALENTINE KETTER(LEY) … This refers to the Other. The Prophet said that the Other’s name is Val Ketterley. It is not surprising that 16 writes about the Other since, according to the Other, 16 is obsessed with him and wants to destroy him.

… (CE)RTAINLY GROOMED OTHER POTENTIAL VICTIMS AND I … Is 16 boasting of her victims? Of the harm she has done and intends to do? Unclear.

… A DISCIPLE OF THE OCCULTIST LAURENCE ARNE-SAY(LES) … Everything keeps leading back to this one same person, Laurence Arne-Sayles, who I believe is identical with the Prophet.

… (BE)EN HERE FOR ALMOST SIX YEARS, DID YO(U) … Unclear what this refers to.

WAY OUT IS LOCATE(D) … A puzzling fragment. 16 appears to want to tell me about an exit. But I know these Halls, all their entrances and exits. She does not.

I have looked up 16 in my Index, using the name the Other called her. She is not there. So I shall look up Laurence Arne-Sayles.

Laurence Arne-Sayles

SECOND ENTRY FOR THE NINETEENTH DAY OF THE NINTH MONTH IN THE YEAR THE ALBATROSS CAME TO THE SOUTH-WESTERN HALLS

Once again I took my Index and Journals to the Fifth Northern Hall and sat down opposite the Statue of the Gorilla. May his Strength and Resolution give me courage! I opened the Index at A.

There were twenty-nine entries for Laurence Arne-Sayles. Some of these were only a line or two; others ran to several pages. I skim-read about half of them, but was no wiser. The information they contained varied wildly: lists of publications, biography, quotations, descriptions of people Arne-Sayles had met in prison. I came across one entitled: Laurence Arne-Sayles: pros and cons of writing a book, and, since the idea of writing a book appeals to me strongly, I read this with interest.

Possible project: a book about Arne-Sayles, exploring the idea of transgressive thinkers – people whose ideas go beyond what is thought acceptable within a discipline (or even possible). Heretics.

Not sure whether this is a good use of my time or not. Pros and cons.

? Angharad Scott did a passable job with her book, A Long Spoon: Laurence Arne-Sayles and His Circle. (Con)

? That said, Scott’s strength is biography, not analysis. She would be the first to admit this. (Pro? Neutral?)

? Scott herself is gracious, encouraging, willing to help. She would like to see another book written. Gave me quite a lot of background information and has indicated that there’s more to come. See notes of phone call with Angharad Scott, page 153. (Pro)

? Arne-Sayles is quite a sexy subject? Major scandal, trial, prison sentence etc. (Pro)

? Arne-Sayles is the perfect example of a transgressive thinker – transgressive in more ways than one – morally, intellectually, sexually, criminally. (Pro)

? The extraordinary effect he had on his followers, getting them to believe that they had seen other worlds etc. (Pro)

? Arne-Sayles refuses to speak to academics/writers/journalists. (Con)

? His close associates – the people who knew him at the time he claimed to be passing to and fro between this world and others – are few. Of that number several have disappeared and most of the others won’t talk to journalists. (Con)

? Tali Hughes was the only student of Arne-Sayles’s who was willing to talk to Angharad Scott. According to Scott, Hughes is emotionally unstable and possibly delusional. James Ritter spoke to a journalist (Lysander Weeks) in 2010. Might be worth a conversation? According to Weeks, Ritter works as a caretaker in Manchester Town Hall. Worth checking if Weeks himself is working on a book? (Neither pro nor con – neutral)

? Mystery of the people connected to Arne-Sayles who disappeared: Maurizio Giussani, Stanley Ovenden, Sylvia D’Agostino. (This is a strong pull for readers and therefore a definite pro. Unless I disappear myself, in which case, con.)