Notes from a meeting of three scholars, the most significant gathering of Hunter specialists to date. Also in attendance: several of their wives and a pair of lovers. (One of the scholars is from the polygamous colony of Albany. It should be noted that one of the wives, that of the "Third Person," has also written popular articles on Hunter.
The agenda of the symposium included making copies of newly discovered documents, debating the implications of the new documents, sharing current findings, and writing up commentaries. We've examined a variety of these commentaries. It has been noted that there is an obsession with accuracy, though not when a personal reaction is involved. The expression of a personal reaction is deemed to fit within the protections afforded all forms of personal expression, save perhaps that of violent action, and the expression of such non-quantifiable emotions are also expressed as accurately and forthrightly as possible in written forms.
A symposium, of course, as practiced in the culture of the ancient Greeks, was the occasion to drink in fellowship. Now, in 2525, they are a half millenium more ancient and the true meaning of 'symposia' is celebrated. Anything that can be done to lubricate the nursing of the population count back to health is done. (Only about 150 people inhabit what once was the Northeastern United States. The global population is on the order of ten thousand men, women, and children.)
It is important, therefore, to concentrate on the informal discussions and debates. Without having to absolutely prove anything and commit that proof to accurate writing, speculation in these dialogues is free and welcome. We get a lot further in understanding the true nature of their understanding. Since it's a mixed gathering, with women outnumbering the men, this approach is much more sexy. The surviving New Englanders are much more liberal than their guest, the so-called "First Person" from DC. The "Second Person," from what was once the great state of New York, is even more of a free thinker. His two lovers are openly seductive, and, to our ears, plainly promiscuous. It's all a matter of degree. The sole couple that might prefer restraint is out flanked. It is, as we shall observe, a rippin' good time.
10-16-2525 Warm, crisp, clear, the onset of the Autumn.
Brattleboro
We gather this at this summit to declare our recent findings on the matter of the narratives and works of composer Calbraith Hunter.
"No argument with that, number 3."
"The truth is stated plainly."
"Thanks to both of you, but I've got to summarize what we've been saying."
"I know you will do it perfectly with your storied memory."
From another area of the enclave, the sound of female laughter.
"It is so good to gather like this, despite the difficulties. The women are having a marvelous time."
"I confess to falling asleep last night with a female stroking each end of me."
"I'll gladly raise your child, should it come to pass. You're intelligence would be an ideal trait to cultivate."
"Number 3, don't be giving him any ideas about my Andrea."
"I think Andrea was on top."
"No, that isn't factual. She was atop me!"
"I'm joking. Make it light. Keep it light."
"OK. So back to Hunter."
"Yeah, I'm amazed by the new narratives. We knew the Boston stuff was an extensive and revelatory set, even as we had it pieced together before, but we didn't know about the expression "cease and desist."
"Are we sure we know what that means?"
"Oh, I think we do. There was a huge law library back home in DC. I had a chance to read about 'cease and desist' in a decent, trusted copy. Its legal meaning is the same as its apparent meaning. It means stop doing what you're doing right now, and then don't start doing it again in future. The interesting part was that there were several ways to issue such a command. One way was to get a legal person, called a lawyer or attorney, or even, more formally, a counselor, to draft up a letter. A higher legal authority that might issue such a document would be a Judge. The judge would have a clerk do the writing, but there were books of pre-fabricated documents of all sorts into which specifics might be inserted."
"Pre-fab. A wonderful old term. But I think you mean 'form letter.'"
"Right! A form letter!"
A burst of laughter, and then a feminine head pokes into the doorway. There are no doors.
"Hey, how you menfolk doin'? Ya need a refill?"
Assent is expressed all around.
"You should get Eve in here. She's keen on legal matters, and her lust for Hunter knows no bounds. She'd do well to join this discussion on the topic of "cease and desist."
Eve enters, bearing the earthen jug of wine.
"Here you go, my friends, my husband, my lovers."
"Stay Evie. We were talking about the 'stop what you're doing and don't ever do it again' idea."
"Sure. I'm interested in such an affront to free expression."
"Go on, number 1, you were saying..."
"I was saying that there was a formal way and then there was an informal way. Anyone could issue a C & D."
"No special language?"
"Yes, you needed to know how to write it so that it would..."
"...stand up in court."
"Very good, Eve."
"My father used to say that all the time. I always had the idea that it was a way to wiggle out of doing something."
"Opposite, likely. It was a way of getting your action upheld."
"The 'stand up' part is very humiliating sounding."
"It's a metaphor."
"I won't stand for it."
"Exactly. A figure of speech."
"A fancy lie."
Giggles all around. And a pause to sit back and imbibe.
"So when Hunter writes about being stopped by a C & D, do we think that explains the truncated nature of the narratives?"
"How truncated are they when we keep finding more? We doubled our page count last year in DC."
"Number 3, I can't believe you got so lucky at my back door."
"You were a most gracious host, 1."
"I should say. I let Andrea rub your back after all that scrounging."
Eve exclaims:
"But that's as far as it went!"
"Our good friend from the southlands has a sense of propriety that Albany lacks."
"Back to Hunter, please."
"Do we think he was stopped? That was my point."
"I think he was worried about being stopped, but that, no, he was too obscure to be actually stopped."
"I think it was the character, perhaps the model for the character of Harmony that caught on and, in memory of her father stopped him."
"Really!"
A reflective pause.
"Well, the text is not disrespectful."
"He fails to give us a name for that character."
"He quotes that bit about the 'way that can be named.'"
"We don't like names that much. We have them, but men don't like to use them."
"I never say my husband's name out loud unless he's been very good or very bad."
"Eve, I'm never 'bad.' You're being inaccurate."
"I'm joking, keeping to the light side."
"A better case can be made, if we are going to indeed accept the idea that Hunter was stopped, or even merely ordered to stop, which he then, clearly didn't do, likely couldn't do... I think the case can be made for the idea that it was the model for Goode who stopped him."
"Or, as you say, merely threatened to stop him."
"Since he clearly continued."
"You know, Number 2, that makes some sense as a speculation. Goode's character is described as being well known. He may have traveled widely, and been, therefore, a person with the means to hire a counselor and deliver a cease and desist letter."
"But the characters are disguised, and, of course given names. How would anyone find out about a libelous defamation, which requires the implication of factuality? Hunter never tires of pointing out his artifice. He tells his readers that he's lying."
"What if he's not? A reader would recognize a scene in which they'd been a participant, particularly if it involved buggery."
"Good point, Eve. Leave it to you to remember the buggery."
"It was one of my favorites of the 3rd person narratives."
"Not MY narrative. Though a recent find, that's not in MY new material."
"She means the part of speech, not you."
The Third Person blushes and puts a hand on his wife's thigh. She draws closer. This discussion is heating up.
"Sorry, dear. I think the question is how was he found out, if that was the situation."
From the other area of the enclave, the remaining three women enter. They've fallen silent and have been following this plot for the past few minutes. Everyone always loves a courtroom drama, even in 2525 when justice is meted out by councils of elders rather than competing attorneys. We've heard from Andrea. The lovers of Number Two are Lori and Elspeth. Elspeth is also a scholar, her area of specialty the ancient social customs. She knows a thing or two about Facebook and Google. She has a wicked sense of humor and loves a good laugh. In her ironic way she looks for the moment to enlighten the men.
"You said the writing was copied from hards."
"I've been meaning to tell you, number 3, that you keep saying that wrong. I can tell you that I've seen the expression 'drives' more often that 'hards.' In fact, I think the term drive should be used in place of hards."
"Hard drives, jump drives, sex drives, short drives."
"Right. Andrea has it right."
"And there once was a company called Google"
"The, um drives, held the words. The writing was done at terminals. It was a network."
"So then, there must've been a way to search the network."
Elspeth knows the answer. She holds back. Her lover, Number Two, is clearly making the connection. She'll let him take the leap and suck him off later.
"OK, so anyone at any terminal anywhere on the planet could search the network for any string of text."
"It is a frightening level of research potential."
"Or waste matter collection. Anyone could write anything."
"That's what it means when we say 'don't google me.'"
Now Elspeth jumps in with her matter of fact. Her long red hair is shaken as she leans in to speak.
"In the days of the social networks, to 'google' something, as a verb, referred to a search. The company, called Google was a searching mechanism on the network. To catch a string on a public blog, all you had to do was 'google' it."
"Wow."
"So the model, as you say, for Goode..."
"He'd be predisposed to want information about homosexual activity in cities that he visited. At what point does a man of means give all of that up? He'd also have access presumably to all of these, what did you call them Elspeth...?"
"Social networks."
"Presumably, but we have a picture of him as something of a technological throw-back."
"But not a non-adopter."
"My friends," said the reigning authority Elspeth Payne, "all he had to do was google "blowjobs in Boston."
Their laughter was profound. When, at length the discourse resumed, it was a coda to the insight.
"It could have been discovered by just such a likely accident. The exact term comes up in a search, you follow the thread, you find yourself as a character in a novel only thinly disguised. You get a lawyer to draw up a cease and desist."
"The haunted, hunted Hunter."
"Say, after a break, let's look into the matter of the string quartet."
The women get up and, forming two pairs, walk towards the entrance and the evening air. It's been a very good, if typical session. Andrea turns to Elspeth:
"All of the speculation is, for me, far better than the drier facts that make into the parchments."
Elspeth shrugs.
"Without facts there's nothing real to go on. It's just an old bunch of stories, a legend. 'Only the music doesn't lie.'"
"Nice quote. Eminesque?"
She nods.
"What do you really think about the idea of the C & D?"
"You know, I think that if anybody shut that blog down, it would have been the school. He makes a mess of their reputation. And they would certainly have had the means."
"But if the blog got shut down, how did the text survive?"
"I guess the kitty cat was out of the bag."
No google.
