Collection

What do you think?

Yes, I understand. It’s in a bit of a state, isn’t it? Compared to the other collections in the villa. I haven’t had time to get everything arranged properly. I was too busy planning the party to worry about the details.

You mean you haven’t figured it out? Take a look. Closer. Don’t worry, I’ll wipe your noseprint off the glass if it comes to it. More wine?

Yes, exactly. It’s only through careful study that you can see where the objects are…not quite correct. Less than optimal, my ex-husband used to say. He had a way with words. The scalpel – yes, the scalpel, see how the blade clips into the handle, how it’s far longer than what you’d expect to see. You’d cut yourself if you tried to use it properly. You’d get blood all inside the patient. Or take the…yes. It looks tempting doesn’t it, to take a big spoonful of that? Well, you shouldn’t. Someone emptied out the original contents and replaced it with a kind of dry acid. The second it hits a mucous membrane, consider it gone.

The whistle sounds like a death rattle if you blow it hard, and the whimpers of a frightened old man if you blow it softly. Not my favourite.

Ah, yes, the photograph. That one is interesting. See how everyone is having a grand time, how the little boy, or girl – the bowl cut doesn’t give much away, does it? How the little one is so excited at seeing the cake, their cake, all lit up, descending to the table like a seraphim, a wheel of fire…yes, all the adults are smiling except for one. That one, that woman on the right with the perm…well, what do you think that’s an expression of?

Yes, I think so too. Complete fucking terror. You sound a lot like my ex-husband when you say that. Notice as well how she’s brandishing the cake knife. Some people would say it’s in a defensive position, but look at how blade is turned towards her. She’s about to hurt herself. She would rather hurt herself than deal with whatever it is outside of the frame, whatever it is she saw that the rest of the crowd have yet to witness. Perhaps they never witnessed it. I’ve got other photos of the birthday party, but none of them are anything out of the ordinary. Believe me, I pored over them for days, studying the edges of doorways and windows caught in the snaps, but they were benign. The woman shows up in most of them, smiling and laughing at the antics of the children. I don’t think she’s the mother though, and too old to be a sister. A family friend, perhaps?

There are a lot of theories, sure. Let me tell you mine. That woman, preparing to cut the cake for the little king or queen sitting a few feet away from her, saw something in that camera flash. Notice how the edges of the room are dark – of course it’s dark, they are bringing in the cake with the candles. The camera goes off to capture that moment, and for a split second the room is lit up as if by a lightning strike. The woman sees something that nobody else can see in that moment, and she would rather hurt herself than spend any more time in that scene, like a fox gnawing off its own leg in a trap.

Well, I asked her. Of course I could – you can search for people’s faces now, it’s quite easy. I tracked her down and I asked her. Wine? There. No, no, it’s alright. Ah yes, and do you know what she said to me? She said she saw it go into the walls and slip under the house. Marvellous. All you people, you have such a way with words, don’t you?