Episode 14: Of Books, Letters and Coded Messages

Episode 14

Of Books, Letters and Coded Messages

“Welcome to The Macha Falls Archives,” Jennifer announces to her reader, from her seat behind the front desk. “I can't tell you what a relief this is, yesterday I practically skipped all the way home. My mum wasn't happy at first, but quickly came to see my side of the story as I pointed out how many times I had been passed around...”

Ms H walks out from between the shelves, pushing a trolley, and Jennifer quickly continues scanning returned books back into the system. Ms H officially hired Jennifer that morning, on probation, and put her to work behind the desk. What is probation? - you might ask. It means that Jennifer had to work, without pay, for a week and, after that, Ms H gets the final say about if Jennifer can continue working there or not.

Honestly, Jennifer is not bothered. She gets a chance and that is all that she wanted – a chance to prove herself.

All Jennifer's done so far is scan books, but she's not complaining. Jennifer is also making extra sure not to mess anything up, she doesn't want to get fired or, worse, get on Ms H's bad side... she'll never be welcome in the library again.

Jennifer never realized how grand the library looked from behind the front desk, sometimes a little distance puts everything into perspective.

Jennifer opens a book and scans the bar-code in the front, she continues on like this until a paperback book with a bright cover design crosses her scanner. She flips open the book and finds no bar-code. Without hesitation, Jennifer flips to the back cover of the book. She's seen a few library books where the bar-code is placed at the back, Jennifer knows Ms H is meticulous, but sometimes things slip through the cracks...

Jennifer finds the bar-code, at the bottom of the back cover, directly underneath a green sticky note. On the note there are five words written in calligraphy: Kind regards, The Author's Advocate.

Without scanning the code, Jennifer quickly shuts the book and places it on the table. She pushes her rolling chair back as far as she can, without looking like she's slacking, and stares at the book from a distance. She reads the title, the author's name, and looks at the cover.

Jennifer slowly roles her chair back to the book and carefully opens it, to confirm the sticky note's existence. After having confirmed that she had indeed not imagined the entire thing, Jennifer flips through the book – the letter can't be far behind.

She finds nothing. There is no letter in the book, no bookmark, no nothing. Jennifer decides to flip through it again, before accepting that the note might have fallen out, and spots something strange about halfway through the book.

There are random letters circled – with pencil – on page 75. Jennifer flips through the book, looking specifically for these letters. Her eyes grow wide as she finds that the letters are scattered throughout the entire book.

Jennifer forces herself to look away from the letters and close the book – she can't do this now. She'll have to leave it for when she is at home... then she can shut herself up inside her room for a good long time. Jennifer still doesn't know what to make of the Author's Advocate.

She closes the book, places it in her bag and continues to scan books – all while thinking about the new letter.

After twenty minutes, Jennifer can't tame her curiosity anymore.

“Who is this person? How do these letters keep showing up? Why do they keep showing up?” Jennifer sits back in her chair. “Is the Author's Advocate even real? What if it's just my Author writing them into my story – what if there is no Author's Advocate?”

There are so many things that Jennifer needs to know, but more than that she needs to tell someone. So, she does the only logical thing she can think of and texts Enoch.

“Need help at library. Can you come?” Is what she sends.

“Well, hello to you to,” He texts back.

“No time. Found AA letter in a book. Come to library,” Jennifer types as fast as she can.

“What do you mean in a book?” He asks.

“LIBRARY,” Jennifer types.

“Fine. See you in 10,” Is his last reply.

Jennifer puts down her phone and continues scanning. She really doesn't want to mess up and she can't decode the letter herself, Enoch is her only option.

While working, Jennifer can almost hear the book whispering to her from inside her bag – like the books in her dream. For a while she thinks about her strange dream, while working, but then forces herself to think about something else. Jennifer has learned her lesson in the past, she shouldn't ponder dreams too much – she might go mad. Soon enough Jennifer's thoughts return to the new letter and all of the possibilities that it holds – wonderful possibilities and frightening possibilities all at the same time. What a wonderful curiosity!

“What if this letter contains all the answers I've been looking for? What if it's a warning? What if...” She continues.

“What if it's nothing more than another Author's Advocate letter?” Someone completes her sentence. Jennifer peers over her computer and finds Enoch approaching.

“You do understand that common folk like us don't sit at the librarian's desk, don't you?” He says, after glancing around nervously. Enoch stands a distance off, not really wanting to be associated with her... for fear of getting in trouble.

“Well then, you can call me a librarian in training,” Jennifer says with a smile. Enoch lifts an eyebrow and takes a step closer.

“You work here now?” He asks and she nods. Enoch slowly takes another step closer. “Are you serious?” Jennifer rolls her eyes and takes out the book from her bag. She opens it to the sticky note and shows it to Enoch before speaking.

“And the letter was in the book?” Enoch asks as he takes the book from her, looking at the note more carefully.

“Quite literally. The Author's Advocate circled letters throughout the thing,” Jennifer says and Enoch's eyes grow wide. “I can't decode the letter now; I'll just get in trouble. I thought that maybe I can trust you with...”

“Definitely!” Enoch says and flips through the book. “Just... I can't do it here. I have to go home, my mum is in a panic – rats had chewed through our house's wiring while we were gone and now we're without power until it can be fixed. She's in a tailspin and wants me home. What time do you get off? Maybe you can stop by and we can go over the letter?”

Half deflated, Jennifer tells him that she gets off at five and that she'll just have to arrange a few things with her family, but that she'll try to make it. She gets his address and that was the last of it.

Before long, Jennifer is left alone again, without the letter and without an Enoch, scanning books.

It was good to see Enoch again, Jennifer thinks to herself. She suddenly remembers the letters she'd written him. She still hasn't decided if she is going to give them to him... they really are just friendly letters, but what if he sees them as more?

***

Later that afternoon, Jennifer makes her way to Enoch's house – pondering the idea of writing people letters in general. She doesn't have a lot of time and has to be home by seven, but she needs to know what that letter says.

The letters that Jennifer wrote, weighs heavily in her backpack. She still doesn't know what to do with them. Jennifer had written them to give them to him, she didn't write them to keep them...

As she turns down Enoch's road, a car drives past and parks in front of Enoch's house. A man climbs out and trots up the stairs to the front door. He takes out a set of keys, unlocks the door and walks in.

Enoch's father must be home.

Jennifer's curiosity starts to tickle the butterflies in her stomach. “I wonder, what type of man would raise someone like Enoch? Don't get me wrong, Enoch's great and all, but, goodness, he is strange.”

Jennifer walks up the steps and knocks on the front door without hesitation.

The man opens the door and looks at Jennifer with a slight scowl. Without greeting Jennifer, he call over his shoulder for his wife and asks if they are expecting quests.

Jennifer flinches at the sudden rise of his voice, but then quickly calms down the second she sees Enoch round the corner into the room.

“Hey, you're here!” He says and his father walks back into the house, letting Enoch welcome his guest. “Welcome to our home, it may be a bit dark, but, I promise, we don't usually live in the stone age.”

Once inside Jenifer finds that there are candles lit all around the room, looks like they hadn't fixed the electrical problem yet. Enoch leads her to the dining table, where she spots the book, a folded piece of paper and a pencil. There are candles down the length of the table too.

Suddenly, Jennifer becomes nervous at the sight of the book. She'd even forgotten its title throughout the day, but, looking at it now, she's amazed that she could forget: The Author's Inclination.

Enoch takes a seat behind the book and Jennifer takes the seat directly across from him.

“So, it took me a few hours, but I got the letter,” Enoch says and hands Jennifer the piece of paper.

“Thank you,” Is all Jennifer can manage and, as always, she's a bit nervous about what the letter says.

“Is the letter...” Jennifer starts to say but stops herself. “Is it...”

“No, it's not bad,” Enoch says. “I think it would be better if you read the letter later, though. I also want to talk about the book, so, there's that.”

“Okay,” Jennifer says with a smile.

“It says a lot about someone, the books they read,” Enoch says and hands Jennifer the book.

“I read the blurb and the first few chapters and it's interesting.”

“How so?”

“Well, I haven't come across a book like it before. It's about a woman who had ruined her life and ended up in a job that she didn't really like. Now, the interesting thing is that she decided to re-write her story the way she would have wanted it to go. The main character is the author, her inclination is one of regret and her story is about fixing her past,” He says.

“Doesn't sound like a book I'd like,” Jennifer says and Enoch laughs lightly.

“You're not that different from the main character,” He says and then quickly adds, “I do like it though. It's strange, but in a good way.”

“Do you have regrets, Enoch?” Jennifer suddenly asks.

Something strange flashes over Enoch's features, before he continues talking as though Jennifer had never asked the question in the first place.

“Who would pick up a book about someone who re-writes her life, long after she could change anything? It's actually sad to think about,” He continues.

“I think it's poetic,” Jennifer says. “It's futile to try and travel back in time through tenses, but it's a beautiful thought none the less.”

“It's just something to think about,” Enoch says. “It could tell you more about who the Author's Advocate is...”

“It could tell us more,” Jennifer corrects him. “Don't try and back out now. I might need someone to save me in future, I can't do that without any friends, now could I?” Enoch just laughs at her.

“You know, I've been doing a lot of thinking,” Jennifer says, having decided not to give Enoch the letters. It's better not to give them to him... but she still feels the need to apologize.

“I really am sorry for the way I treated you and, I promise, I won't do it again...” Jennifer says, softly. “Forgive me?”

***

Later that night, at home, Jennifer takes Enoch's letters out of her bag and puts them on her desk – she doesn't need to carry them around all the time. She'd asked his forgiveness and there was nothing more that needed to be said. The letters were redundant and, to Jennifer, nothing more than a nice way to had passed the time.

She takes a seat on her bed and opens the Author's Advocate letter, but then Jennifer finds that there was not just one letter, but two. The one is the decoded Author's Advocate letter and, the other, a letter from Enoch.

Enoch's letter reads:

Jenny,

After I decoded the letter, I divided it into paragraphs to make it a little easier to read – just thought I should say. I also fixed the grammar... you know, added punctuation marks, capital letters and stuff like that. It took me a while, but it was great fun. Thanks for an eventful afternoon.

I also started reading the book – The Author's Inclination. Great read so far, I would even consider buying a copy for myself, one day when I have money. It says a lot about who the Author's Advocate is, but we can talk about that in person this afternoon. Come to think of it, by the time you read this we would have already talked about it. In that case: Hi, future Jennifer!

Honestly, I didn't know if you would want to talk to me again... after the way we left things. Your friendship means a lot to me. I didn't think that moving to a small town could be this exciting. Thanks for the weirdness and the friendship – living here would be dull without you.

Enoch.

Jennifer looks at the stack of letters again and breathes out a long sigh. She should have given them to him... it would be too weird to give them to him now. Sad and filled with regret, Jennifer reads the Author's Advocate letter next.

Dear Ms Hudstone,

Congratulations on the new job, Ms H is not one to hire help on a whim. I do believe that you have made the best of your situation. Heed my warning, Ms H does not take kindly to nonsense, slacking or daydreaming, needless chatter is not encouraged and silence is the best way to approach a good working relationship.

I felt the need to ask you a few questions – questions to ponder at a later stage.

Do you believe that one person has the capacity to make good and bad decisions? Or do you believe that people are divided into two main categories – inherently good and inherently bad? Do you believe that, in every story, there is a hero and a villain? Is that hero then limited to making only good decisions (and the villain limited to the contrary)? If the hero is not limited to making good decisions at every occasion, then how is the hero (and villain) classified? Does this classification depend singularly on the perspective out of which the story is told?

Or, do you believe that we live in a world where one cannot classify people on their actions as inherently good or bad? For, don't we all make good and bad decisions? Don't we all need to ask forgiveness sometimes? Don't we all, no matter if we classify ourselves as the hero of our own story, make mistakes? My last question to you is, if this is the view you take in, how does one classify people and one’s self then?

I have found these questions interesting in the past and thought it worth sharing.

Kind regards,

The Author's Advocate.