Monday 14 March 2011

The Case Of The Missing Brain Cells (Part_B).

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Dearest Pitkin,

Terribly sorry for my late response - I'm afraid your last message arrived smack in the middle of another family debacle at our end. Needless to say, I'll spare you the grim details, though you should perhaps note, it appears as if your estranged Godson, Stephen, will remain that way a good while longer.

Fancy you running into Laszlo like that - I was under the impression that he was now bed-bound? Re: my encounter with him at Glenna's stag, as I said at the time, it's not so much reticence, on my part, as it is insouciance. As far as I was concerned, the evening had passed amiably and without incident. It was only after Neil Sinclair sanctioned me at the Gantry that I became aware of any perceived indiscretion. Indeed, though I hate to sound prickly about it, between ourselves, I still think the whole thing smacked of Russki hysteria - though it isn't only for this reason that I retain a degree skepticism regarding some of L's more outlandish claims.

Life at the Academy continues apace, though I continue to have difficulty distinguishing students from staff. Just last week, I found myself chastising what I took to be as a lasciviously precocious undergraduate, only to be told later that she was in fact a visiting Professor of Modern English Literature from the University of East Anglia. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that my tenured position has somehow survived the financier's scythe for another twelve months; but I do I feel increasingly exposed.

You forget that now we have moved, we no longer have any neighbours - unless you count the several thousand sheep I can see from my attic window. You also forget that nobody ever actually heard Edward make that claim for himself - it was merely attributed to him in parenthesis. Regardless, we have not remained in contact - in fact, given that cough, I should be very surprise if he made it through the winter.

As ever,

Joseph

p.s. It's really business and pleasure, or, at least, pleasurable business (I trust you understand my meaning). As such, I see no reason why we should not meet at our usual spot.




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