Observation

123 When the couple who helps him find his way to the estate turns up later at his wedding, he is not overly surprised. That’s how it seems to work. Pull the lever for a wider view. Here he is celebrating the birth of his first child, here is the famous “walk around the lake,” and here he discovers the mechanism that allows him to observe what we will call, for lack of a better term, “the other side.” Meaning us, but not in the default mode. Rather, the view consists mainly of abstract shapes, shifting geometries, color fields, and only the occasional animal or human figure. Verisimilitude is not at issue. As we have noted, the king and queen only appear to be randomly chosen; they are actually determined through complex algorithms played on these drums, which, according to our informants, are dressed in lace or muslin prior to their actual baptism. It is at just this point that the entire ensemble pivots. All the participants assume new titles, which is to say that the positions are redistributed, portions are reallocated, and more objects are pressed into service, anthropomorphized, and finally released. In the particular case under consideration, there is some discomfort, a short period of acclimatization, minor surgery, and the continuation of music lessons that began long ago. The incest taboo, however, remains, for the most part, in force. OBSERVATION NORMAN FINKELSTEIN ...