Violet

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine tatoo

I don't see what you are talking about.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine tattoo

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine tattoo

"Tattoo" isn't right. You scrawled "TYVTWD" on the back of your hand before leaving this morning. It stands for Take Your Violet To Work Day. This is your plan: you are going to get through today by pretending I'm here with you.

Just so we're clear: you are actually alone, and presumably I am back at our apartment, packing and crying.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine bookcase

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine bookcase

Two weeks ago:
"Violet. Take this. Do not give it back to me for a month."
"Is this your car key?"
"Just the trunk. The boot. I put all the books from my office in there."
"You said you just needed to read one more book and then you were ready to write."
"And you pointed out that I've said that several times before. You're right. I've read enough. I just need to get what's in my head onto the computer."

Of course I'm so used to seeing your bookcase full that it's strange now to see it nearly empty.

On the second shelf is a book. On the bottom shelf is a deftly-crafted snowglobe.

The dude with Julia sounds like the one she was flirting with at Lucy's party. Remember? He was scrawny and said his parents owned a hotel in Milwaukee called "The Historic Pfister."

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine book

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine book

This is the latest "last book you really must read before you are able to write your dissertation without a nagging feeling that there is one more book you really must read." If you start reading it now, hours will go by, and you won't write your thousand words.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine snowglobe

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine snowglobe

It's a glass globe with a plain wooden bottom. Inside is a happy winter scene, with a paunchy, smiling figurine in a white outfit and snow up to his ankles. His hands look like they are covered with chocolate.

I don't know why I confided in Lucy about our problems. I should have known she would tell Julia.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

read book

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> read book

Sure, the book looks like something you'd find interesting. I'm not going to describe its contents any further, though, as I don't want to risk enticing you to start reading it.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

shake snowglobe

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> shake snowglobe

You shake the globe vigorously. The snow starts swirling around the globe, turning pink and then red.

Remember? Watching television at midnight:
"The Saskatoon Strangler. He killed six people before being arrested by the mounties in 1986."
"A documentary about a serial killer at bedtime?"
"Only six people, Violet. Plus, he worked as a confectioner!"
"If I can't sleep, you can't complain about the noise when I start working on something."

You look out the window for a moment, at the wonderfully serene park across the street. We could be frolicking right now. We could be canoodling in the shrubbery. Please just write.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine desk

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine desk

Of course the big oak desk is unusually posh for a graduate student office. It belonged to a professor who had a stroke at his computer and none of the other faculty wanted a desk on which once rested the head of a dead colleague.

On top of the desk are your computer, my itinerary, a framed beauty and a pile you cannot even contemplate right now.

The desk's drawer is closed. A wastebasket is on the floor to the left.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

open drawer

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> open drawer

You open the drawer and there's a shiny little key and your notebook.

Although you write on your computer, you still like to keep a pen and notebook handy because it sometimes helps to work out more complicated sentences in longhand before typing them in. You've several pens in your bag.

Hey, dundeecake: where's your bag?

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

take key

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> take key

Yours, vegemite.

Ugh. You were so distracted this morning that you left your bag back at our apartment. I am a gentle girlfriend and will refrain from marvelling at how it's past noon and you are only realising this now.

You cannot go get your bag. You know you are doomed to an afternoon of meandering distraction if you leave this office.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

open cabinet with key

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> open cabinet with key

You unlock the cabinet, glancing briefly at the trophy on top as you do.

>

[SignorSuperdouche]

examine trophy

[Ziggy]

SignorSuperdouche> examine trophy

You trained for months and had to run the entire race in the rain. A chintzy little medal after all that? You deserve better! So afterwards I took the big sign I'd held up for you and spent two days folding it into a proper trophy.

You are distracted by Julia laughing inauthentically and telling Historic Pfister "You are so clever."

>

[Erkki]

# Security officers enter the building, you are temporarily frozen by fear

[Ziggy]

[Manual ZVM shutdown]