WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: The Barrow Will Send What it May, Chapter Two 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:03.240 Cool Zone Media. 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:16.560 Book Club book Club book Club. Welcome to cool Z 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:18.920 Owned Media book Club. That's the best introduction we've ever done. 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:20.360 Thank you. Yeah. 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:22.640 Club bars on the floor, but we stepped over. 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.000 I practiced for weeks. We've had to cancel three other shows, 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:27.520 but I got it. I got it now. 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.080 The people that you live with have been really appreciative. 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:31.240 They've all messaged me to. 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.080 Let me Knowah, they love the chanting Yeah, huge chanting fans. 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:38.720 And the chanting show that you're listening to is cool 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:41.080 Zone Media book Club, which you probably figured out by 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.440 the title or the other part of the introduction. But 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:46.600 this is the only book club where you don't have 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:48.519 to do the reading because I do it for you. 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.839 I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, and my guest today is 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:53.960 Robert Robert Evans. 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:55.360 Hi, that's me. 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:58.040 You always made this joke about how you were the 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.280 only Robert Evans, and it took me about three years 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:02.120 to get the joke. 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:04.559 Yeah, well it was. It made more since years ago 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.200 when the guy who produced Godfather was still alive and 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.600 in the news. Yeah, and I changed my online name 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:13.039 to that the day he died as a bit and 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:15.840 just haven't moved on. Yeah, fair enough, because I used 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:17.720 to be the other Robert Evans, right. 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:22.679 Yes, yeah, well you're always the greater Robert Evans to. 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.680 Me, thank you, thank you. I'm certainly the Robert Evans 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:29.160 who has done less cocaine, because no matter who you are, 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.920 you've done less cocaine than the Robert Evans who made 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:32.600 The Godfather. 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:35.880 We're going to have to actually invent immortality in order 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:36.720 to be that record. 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:38.880 Yeah, I don't care for literally scarface. 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:46.960 So this week and last week and the next several weeks, 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.680 we are reading The Barrel Will Send What It May, 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.000 which is the second book in the Danielle Kaine series. 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.320 And if you want to go back, you can hear 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:56.559 me read the first book in the series to Robert 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.600 Evans a couple of years ago. But you can probably 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.640 use a certain function instead of scrolling yep, and you 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.120 will find me read the book The Lamb Will Slaughter 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:07.960 the Lion. But this book, well it's chapter two, so 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.560 you probably know what's happening, or you don't because you 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:13.040 live a very different life than me, and you start 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:14.399 on chapter two. 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.280 Yeah, maybe you're one of those second chapter people at 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:19.800 book talk who believe you should always start with chapter two. 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.240 Is that this no, but they it might be. It 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:27.040 is now, it is now. I did have My old. 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:28.840 Art teacher was always like, it's okay to read the 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.079 end of the book first, because you are the person 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.080 that it is the object mm hm, and I like 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:36.920 both appreciated that and was like, I will never do that. 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.080 As a writer. I find that deeply off putting as 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.440 a logical argument. I can't disagree with it. 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.040 My friend always talks about I'm not going to spoil 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.240 this book for the audience, But my friend always talks 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:50.080 about how great spoilers are. Historically, there's like studies that 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.560 show that spoilers actually make you enjoy something more. Oh yeah, 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:57.480 and how during like ee oldie Shakespeare times, like when 0:02:57.480 --> 0:02:59.880 a new play would come out by anyone, people would 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:01.840 like in the docks, like the boat would be coming 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:03.760 in and they'd be like, what happens at the end 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:09.000 of the new play? Them in a different culture's sure 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:09.240 to do? 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:10.320 We sure do. 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.160 I was going to somehow tie that into this book 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:19.480 also has the singular day, but because so did Shakespeare anyway, 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:26.000 thine sure Section section two Jesus Christ, Chapter two of 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.160 the Barrels send what it May, second book in the 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:32.880 Daniel Kaine series by me Margaret Kiljoy. Staring out a 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.160 window again at the low sun. I wasn't in my 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:39.600 body but just above it? Or was I in the 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:43.200 driver's seat again? I wasn't. I was in the passenger 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:48.880 seat of a stranger's car. Not a stranger, Gertrude. Maybe 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:52.119 I was concussed. What did the doctor ask me when 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:54.000 I was a kid and I hit my head super 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.880 hard on the playground? What year is it? What's my name? 0:03:58.680 --> 0:03:59.000 Count? 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:05.320 Backward from one hundred by sevens one hundred ninety three. 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:08.200 I should have just pulled over earlier, as soon as 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:13.440 I'd been tired. Why hadn't I eighty six? It had 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:18.000 felt good driving, I'd felt useful. No, it hadn't been 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.479 for other people. Driving west away from Iowa. I'd felt 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:24.560 in control of my own life and destiny. That's half 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:29.680 of why I travel seventy nine. I hadn't felt in 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:33.200 control for months. It wasn't the magic and demon's thing. 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:37.440 It was Clay's death. He'd been such a I don't know, 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:42.719 not a corner stone, a keystone. His existence somewhere in 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.520 the world had been keeping me together. He was gone, 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.320 and ever since, I hadn't felt like I was in control. 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.479 Maybe it wasn't him specifically. Maybe I would have felt 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:55.479 that way if any of my close friends had died. 0:04:56.360 --> 0:05:01.919 Did I have close friends anymore? Seventy two? Traveling with 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:05.279 others is always a trade off. Being close with other 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.440 people is always a trade off. Do we give up 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.520 pieces of our autonomy to be with others? Is it 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.560 worth it? Eighty five? 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:15.800 No? No, that isn't right. 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:20.159 Fifty five one number was I on? I couldn't be 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.280 concussed for the simple reason that I didn't want to 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.599 be and I wasn't sure that there was anything I 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.560 could do about it. Even if I was, I probably 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.680 couldn't count backward from one hundred by sevens. If I 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:39.839 was fine, It was fine. I was fine. I could breathe, thankfully, blissfully. 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:42.960 The sun made its way below the horizon and stopped, 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.159 reminding me of that time I flipped a car and 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:50.080 almost killed everyone. I even let myself doze off. But 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:51.800 do you know what came to me in my dreams? 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:56.719 Robert Evans a belief and an understanding that the only 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.400 way to the Promised Land is through the products and 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.840 services advertise next on this podcast. 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.760 Whatever they are, that's right, we fully support this is 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:22.000 your only way to Heaven, and we're back. It was 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:24.960 about a three hour drive, and we discussed our plans 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:28.280 as best we could in someone else's car. We'd try 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:31.279 the library. If the folks there were as similar to 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.039 us as Gertrude figured, then they'd put us up at 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:37.960 least for the night. Anarchists stick together, well, except when 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:42.000 we get mad at one another over small details. Also, 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.159 I guess I kind of fed an anarchist to a 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:46.800 deer a couple days ago, but that's besides the point. 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.200 It was collective self defense. He was trying to get 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.920 the deer to eat my friends. No matter. We'd try 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:56.119 the library, then see what we could do about getting 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:01.160 a new vehicle. Pendleton goes from rural road to downtown 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:04.240 in less than a block, which is kind of impressive. 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:10.600 Nothing nothing, pasture, nothing, trees, nothing, then a speed trap 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:13.239 and a tourist trap right in a row. The latter 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.240 even had a concrete tyrannosaurus out front. That kind of 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.320 awesome place you don't see much of until you get 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:20.360 to the parts of the country people write road trip 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:25.960 movies about. Then a Western style tourist downtown, complete with 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.880 boardwalk and old timey looking lampposts. This town has seen 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.280 better days, I said, as we drove past a broken 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.800 trunk of concrete fence that lined the boardwalk. Ain't no 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.000 jobs now that the tourists are gone? Why are the 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:45.520 tourists gone? Budget cuts? Gertrude said, I don't know the 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:47.840 whole ways of it, but a lot of public land 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:50.560 went private, and there's not so much outdoor recreation like 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.720 there was. It was okay for a while, there was 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.520 still work for the gas companies, but I guess this 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.200 area wasn't so good after all. And all the jobs 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.120 are a couple two more many hours east to hear, 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.840 and no one young sticks around. That's a shame, I said, 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:11.240 because it was everything ends. She said that's just God's way. 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.320 I didn't believe much in God, but she wasn't wrong. 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:20.000 People are staring, I said. We were stopped at a light, 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:23.119 probably the only light in town, and an old white 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:25.600 man was glaring from behind the curtains of some kind 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:30.119 of knickknacks store. Oh they're not staring at you, Gertrude said. 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.160 The light turned green and she turned left off the 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:36.640 main drag. The town was only about three maybe four 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:41.000 blocks wide, maybe ten blocks long, lots of small houses 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:45.360 with forests and plains just beyond. People here ain't prejudiced, 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:47.920 got nothing against black folks or even folks who dress 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.800 like I don't know what you call that, punks, I asked. 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.000 We weren't what most people think of when you think 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:58.480 of punks. None of us had mohawks, and I don't 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.240 think any of us besides maybe Thursday or Brynn, listened 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:05.960 to the sex pistols, but we were punks. Sure? Yeah, 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:11.200 what about trans people? Vulture asked. Gertrude looked up in 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:13.679 the rear view, probably looking at Vulture to see if 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:17.640 she could tell he was trans. Oh, honey, this is Montana, 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.760 not North Dakota, she said. Does that mean a yes, 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:26.480 Sarah no, Vulture asked. We read the news, we've seen 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.439 people like you online, and people around here are willing 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:33.800 to let people be people. That's cool, Vulture said. He 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:39.120 didn't sound incredibly reassured, you know, Gertrude said, I never 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:44.000 would have noticed you pass really well. So that's the 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:45.959 kind of thing that probably sounds like it's going to 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:49.000 be a compliment but turns out not to be Vulture said, 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.680 have you had you know, I think the three of 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:55.760 us tried to cut her off at once. Not a 0:09:55.800 --> 0:10:00.400 real polite topic of conversation, I said, got it. She 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:02.840 genuinely seemed to take it well, but telling her not 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:05.839 to ask the questions she so clearly wanted to ask 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.679 still managed to kind of silence the car for a moment. 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.320 So why are people staring, I asked at last, when 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:16.200 we stopped at the stop sign. Folks have been staring 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:20.240 at me ever since I came back back to town, 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.600 back from the dead. She said it so casually, like 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:25.680 it was something no one would raise an eyebrow at 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.480 about that. I asked, you mean like they had to 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.000 put those paddles on you and shock you back to 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.080 life after a car accident or something. If that's not, 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.079 I don't know. Also the kind of question that's rude 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.600 to ask. No, No, it's okay. Gertrude turned right onto 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.600 an unlit street. Maybe the library was this way, maybe 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.319 something worse was happening. For the first time in the 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:54.280 whole interaction, Hey, I may be slow, but I'd had 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:58.160 a rough day. I was getting uneasy sitting on the 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.840 edge of my seat, eyeing the law on the doors. 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:06.720 I died of cancer last Christmas Eve. I was dead 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:11.600 six months. God bring you back. I dealt with crazy 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:15.040 folks all my life. It was fine, we'd be fine. 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.480 I turned over my shoulder to see if my friends 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:21.480 were paying attention. They were. Brin had her hand on 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.520 her knife. Thursday had his hand in the kangaroo pocket 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:28.640 of his hoodie, probably on his gun. Someone like that, 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.920 Gertrude said. I had a feeling it wasn't God who'd 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:36.319 told Gertrude to pick us up. After all, we'd asked 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.600 for the dead to guard us. She stopped the car. 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.760 It wasn't sudden, she'd been slowing down, but it caught 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.480 me off guard, and I reflexively flicked off my seat belt, 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.040 ready to fight or run. Well, she said, turning to 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:55.920 smile with her cold smile. We're here. Been a pleasure 0:11:55.960 --> 0:12:01.680 meeting you punks, and God bless. The library was in 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.480 an old post office building on a darkened side street. 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.160 Greek style column supported the front of the stone building, 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.400 and a single flickering bulb and a scance illuminated the door. 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:17.520 A hand lettered wooden sign read Pendleton Library Still free, 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.280 Still open to the public ten am to four pm, 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:26.240 run by anarchists. Beneath it, someone attacked a piece of 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.000 paper that read, we do not carry the anarchist cookbook. 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.240 Get your bad politics and bad science recipes off the internet, 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:38.000 not from us. I got that one from an actual 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:40.280 anarchist bookstore. I had that sign up. 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:45.160 But I want to make my what is it? What 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:46.559 is the napalm recipe in that? 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.160 Oh, I will not say that. I will not say 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.400 recipes of such things online personally. 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.120 No, but it doesn't work. 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:54.800 Yeah. 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:56.000 Also, don't make napal. 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.439 Yeah, no, it never goes well. 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:04.120 Yeah. Not something that's ever been used for liberatory purposes. 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:14.360 Yeah, okay, we could find friends here. What's our cover story, 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:18.840 I asked, Thursday shrugged, play it by ear back up 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:23.200 whatever someone else comes up with. Thursday knocked. He broke 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.760 up the rhythm of his knock, presumably to sound friendly 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.920 and less like we might be cops. No one likes 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:33.000 a cop knocker. It started raining out of the blue. 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:35.640 There's been a few drops on the windshield in the 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:39.040 last hour, but nothing serious. As soon as we stood 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.640 under the awning of the library, the sky opened up. 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:46.120 We're closed, A voice said, sleepily from the other side 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:50.200 of the door. We're travelers, heard there were good people here. 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:54.679 The door opened a slit. The white man peering through 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:56.800 the crack looked to be a little bit older than us, 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:00.800 maybe in his mid thirties. Gray streaked his thick black beard, 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.400 and one half of his mustache was stark white. A 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.360 spade was tattooed and faded blue on his cheek. Who 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:12.640 told you that, Gertrude Miller? I said, she picked us 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:16.840 up hitch hiking. There was fear in his face. His 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.360 eyes darted to each of us in turn. Another face 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.080 appeared behind his, a woman closer to my age, with 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:26.480 pitch black hair cut into baby bangs that continued into 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:29.880 an undercut on the side of her head, feral bangs. 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:33.120 I'd heard the style called. They went well with her 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:37.040 septum clicker and immaculate makeup. Sometimes I'm jealous of people 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:41.400 who pull off high fems so well. Oh, for fuck's sake, Vasillis, 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:46.920 she said, let them in. Sorry, The man, presumably Vascillius, mumbled. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.320 He opened the door and went inside. And do you 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:51.680 know what they found inside there? 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:55.640 Robert evans um, did they find the products and services 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:57.160 that support this podcast. 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:00.320 They did. They found exactly all of the objects and 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.840 ephemeral things that you were about to hear about. 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:26.160 Excellent, perfect, sexy. 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:22.640 And we're back. I'm used to anarchist spaces being a 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.960 little bit humble might be the polite word for it, 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:31.920 scrappy dy. But this place looked like a library, a 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.960 small one, sure, but also one inside a beautiful old 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.520 post office building. Rows and rows of books on thick 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:43.400 wooden shelves filled the downstairs. The only thing they'd done differently, 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.360 it seemed, was try to kill the sterility one usually 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.640 sees in small town libraries. Tasteful sconces set into the 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.040 wall lit the place, and a slightly ragtag assortment of 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:58.640 comfortable chairs and couches were everywhere you live here. I 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.120 asked All of my questions about more pressing matters, like 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.720 the apparently dead woman who'd driven us to town, were 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.200 lost in my excitement about people having taken over a 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:14.280 small town library and kept it running. It's funny because 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.600 when I wrote all of this, like like, oh, they're 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:21.920 going to privatize the parks, yeah, Like, well, at least 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.119 it means we can probably take over my libraries. 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.760 Going is going to be very impressive in the future. 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:31.680 Yeah, totally, yeah, Vascillas said. He led us through the 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:34.680 main room of the library. It's hard to walk past 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.480 that many books without stopping to flip through them. But 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.200 I followed him up the backstairs to the apartment above. 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:43.520 It looked a lot more like places I was used to. 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:47.320 The living room was still covered with Florida ceiling bookshelves, 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:49.960 but there was also a dining table and a counter 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.720 that separated off a small kitchen area. A short hallway 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:59.280 led to three other doors, presumably two bedrooms in a bathroom. How, 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:03.480 I asked, the county left it empty. We moved in. 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:09.320 It's squatted then, technically, Vascillis said, But even the sheriff's 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.880 wife comes here to check out books. I'm not sure 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.480 anyone knows or even cares that no one legally owns 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:17.720 the place. People assume we bought it, and we don't 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:24.000 discourage them. I'm Heather, the woman said. As we did introductions. Wait, 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:28.040 Vascilla said, after I introduced myself as Danielle, what's your 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:32.720 last name? Cain, I waited, cringing to hear him call 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:37.320 me Danny. He didn't you knew Clay? He said, we 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:39.760 talked about you a lot last time he was through here. 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.800 You know, Clay, Doomsday asked. At the same time, as 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:46.359 the ice was broken by knowledge of a mutual friend, 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:50.280 a different sort of tension filled the room, the tension 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:56.120 of discussing a mutual dead friend. New knew Clay. None 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:59.520 of these assholes had come to his funeral. Everywhere I traveled, 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:02.719 people knew. Everyone talked about him like he was a 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:06.720 magical gift from the universe to its denizens, which he was, 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:09.600 and not one of them had made it to Denver 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.840 to drink and mourn with me and his mom. Maybe 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:16.000 I'd go out that way too, I'd live on in legend, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:20.359 but no one would feel obliged to actually miss me. Sure, 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.240 Vascilla said, he came through a couple of times a year, 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.359 always wanted to check out whatever new books we had. 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.120 The books up here were in fact different from those 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:34.920 on the shelves downstairs. A lot of them had blank spines, 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.359 a lot of them were gold embossed. Some of them 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:42.080 looked older than some people think the earth is. This 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:46.200 isn't accult library. I asked, well, what else are you 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:50.080 all doing here? Vasillis asked. He and I were the 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.560 only ones still standing. I realized everyone else had made 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:58.240 themselves comfortable on couches and chairs. Rain lashed against the windows, 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:03.000 and thunder rumbled across the plane. We uh. I tried 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.159 to figure out what to tell him. I tried to 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:09.000 figure out what was safe to tell him. We're demon hunters, 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.399 Vulture blurted out. He put down a book and his phone. 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.439 He'd been taking pictures of the pages. We're on the 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.040 run because of some stuff that went wrong, and Eulixie 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:20.080 maybe killed a lot of people and some cops too, 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:25.880 so much for a cover story. Doomsday and Thursday shot 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:28.720 him the same look at the same time. The combined 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:30.959 glare would have driven lesser men to silence, or at 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.240 least to show remorse on their face. Vulture did neither. 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:39.320 You demon hunters, Vasillis repeated, like the words didn't make 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.959 sense in his mouth, like he was speaking some language 0:19:42.000 --> 0:19:44.520 he didn't know and was just parroting the phrase back. 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:48.960 I mean we are now, I guess. Vulture gave his 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:53.280 best whoop, sorry, look to the rest of us, you're 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:57.080 here because of the disappearances. Then that was Heather, who 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:00.840 was sitting next to Brynn on a love seat. Thursday 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:05.600 said yes, Vulture said at the same time, Doomsday ritual 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:07.199 must have done a hell of a lot more than 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:12.280 get us a ride safely. What disappearances, I asked, you 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:15.480 might want to sit down, Heather said, this is weird. 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.879 I found myself in a large comfortable chair by the window, 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.400 and Vasillis brought us all tea. Heather, with a cop 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:26.879 in her hand, told us the story. There used to 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.840 be two more of us living here. She started punctuating 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:33.920 her sentence by blowing across her tea, Damien and Asola. 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:38.560 Then there's Loki. I know Loki, I said. It's a 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:43.040 small scene, hitchhiking, weirdos, queer, kind of small book thief. 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:46.520 I'd stayed with them. Loki didn't like being called he 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:50.000 or she. In Oakland for a couple weeks the summer before, 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:53.479 they had been planning a rare book heist. I skipped 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:57.720 down before I found out how it went. Yeah, Heather said, 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:01.320 Loki came through with some books for us. Real shit, 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:05.000 they said. Then they and Damien and Asola went winter 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:08.080 camping in Glacier, and then none of them came back. 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:11.600 Heather took a tiny sip of her tea, decided that 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.359 it was cool enough and took a longer sip. Months 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.959 go by, no word from any of them. Vasillis and 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.440 I tried to track them down, but never found anything. 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:25.240 Not their car, nothing, a record in the back country 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:30.600 hiking registry at Glacier, and that's it. Then this spring, 0:21:31.359 --> 0:21:35.240 a Sola shows up in town. She won't talk to us. 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.160 Squat's an empty bed and breakfast at the edge of town. 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.840 We see her around town sometimes, but it's like she 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:46.840 looks right through us. She looks right through everyone else too. 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:51.879 She's back, but she's not back. Where are the books 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:55.639 Loki brought, Doomsday asked. Most of them are shelled now, 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:59.320 Vasillis said, gesturing at the walls around us. Most of 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:02.439 them are the same garbage you always find though. Ninety 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:06.840 nine point nine percent of occult books or just trash, gibberish, 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:09.240 packaged up all spooky, made to sell for as much 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:14.359 money as possible. Most of them are shelved, Doomsday continued, 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:18.679 Vasillis sighed. The three of them went to Glacier with 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:22.600 one book, one that seemed legit. Loki says they stole 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:26.080 it from some of Vola type fascists on the Olympic Peninsula, 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:29.399 says those people had stolen it from somewhere in England, 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:33.520 the Book of Barrow. Our friends took it to Glacier 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:37.080 because they were going to try something out. What were 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:40.480 they going to try out? Thursday asked, Vasillis looked to 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:47.080 the floor. Heather answered, instead resurrection Loki wanted to hunt 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:50.520 a bear and bring it back to life. Oh fuck that, 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:54.159 Bren said. So they went out to the back country 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:57.000 wilderness in the dead of winner to kill a hibernating bear, 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:00.159 which by the way, doesn't count as hunting, and turn 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:03.359 it into a zombie bear. And then they didn't come back. 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:07.239 Thursday asked, gee, I can't think of anything that might 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:12.560 have gone wrong with that plan. What a mystery, Thursday 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:16.760 Doomsday said, No, Thursday said, you've got to be kidding me. 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:20.840 Mystery solved. They got killed by winter or the bear, 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:23.399 and frankly, it's hard to claim they didn't have it coming. 0:23:24.920 --> 0:23:28.040 What about Gertrude Miller, I asked. She told us she 0:23:28.119 --> 0:23:33.480 was dead six months then was resurrected. Honestly, Heather said, 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:36.840 Looking at Thursday, when they didn't come back from Glacier, 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:40.199 Vasillis and I thought the same thing you did. But 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:44.040 then a Sola came back. Okay, she's shell shocked and 0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:46.679 doesn't want to talk to us. Heather turned to me. 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:52.800 But then Gertrude came back. She was dead for six months. 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:56.000 She was telling the truth about that, then, I said, 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:01.080 Heather nodded. Vulture clapped his hands together. We all looked 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:03.000