Day 8

I have two major things to report today. Both of them are prompted by William's visit. The first was our discussion of the poetry books. I explained to him my frustration with them, and my suspicion that they were truly useless. Once again he laughed at me (and once again, it stung just a bit. I do not think, however, that he had intended to hurt me. I still do not understand this effect of laughter. I will have to ask about this when I next see him). He tried to explain that I could think of them as similar to the fiction books, but broader, more abstract. He explained that there was meaning in them, but it is often only implied, or suggested. He explained further that sometimes one could be so moved by a moment, a thought, or an event that there is no choice but to express the feeling in some abstract way. One of the ways of doing so is through words: poetry.

I felt that this was absolute nonsense, and I said so. Why, if you feel something so greatly, would you insist on writing words that express nothing at all, let alone what is happening to you? Surely it is a far superior response to write the events out plainly, as the fictional books do.

William sighed, and shrugged. He is not an artist, he apologized, and had no more of an explanation. I would have to look to others to satisfy my frustrations. This I will be able to do very soon.

The other issue that I have to report is much more exciting to me. William brought with him today a gift. Possibly the greatest gift I could ever have hoped for. It was, in fact, a thing I would not have even dared to wish for if I had known it existed. He came to my room with a small box. He set it on the table as if it were nothing of any importance. My curiosity, of course, was immediately peaked. In fact, the less he seemed to regard the box, the greater my interest. After a time (and our discussion of the poetry book), he pulled the box to his lap, and then looked at me. He held on his face a tentative smile.

"This box contains something that I think will make you very happy." My interest doubled yet again.

"However, I am going to have to ask you to lie on your table again. I am going to have to open you up one more time."

I winced, but was swayed by his insistence that it would be worth the discomfort. Secretly, I harbored a small pang of anticipation. It had been a while since I had been exposed in this way to William. This would be the first time since I had learned of his good intentions, and I did miss it a little bit.