[Seven by Nine Squares home page] [tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE] [Impractical Seriousness]

Impractical Seriousness

Laura's intercepted mail, Laura's being welcomed back by her room, Laura's trail of messages leading "nowhere"..

Laura Trussell & I had only known each other for a short time & we already got along mighty fine. One day in her bedroom I was glimpsing at some of her papers on her desk in my usual gregariously snoopy way & she responded by giving me her approval to do so further. The desk was covered with, amongst other things, correspondence received. She explained some of it to me. She showed me photo post-cards of "famous" people that her father had sent with the legend covered over by address labels. This, she told me, was a game they played. The legend was covered to try to get her to guess whose picture was shown.

Shortly thereafter, Laura left B-More to visit her parents for a few days. Right before she left she told me to feel free to come over to her place during her absence to do whatever. Which I did. I visited her room & borrowed some of her old mail & some of the mail she'd gotten while away.

Using these postings as my source material, I created fake mail for her. I took her father's stationery & made blank copies of it to type on. Using a typewriter with a similar typeface to her father's, I simulated a letter from her father to her - complete with a poem in his style. I bought a photo post-card & pasted a copy of her father's address label over the backing info - to accompany the simulated letter. I xeroxed a letter from her friend Anne & modified by underlining all "babes" & "dudes" with red ink. I practiced forging her friend Margaret's handwriting & wrote a silly letter pretending to be her.

My post office box # is the same as that of the Columbian Consulate in B-More. The difference between the 2 is that theirs is located in a commercial building & mine is located at a post-office. Both of these locations are in the same zip-code. As such, any mail addressed to that box # that doesn't specifiy the commercial bulding location is likely to be sent to me. Hence, I've received quite a bit of the consulate's post.

So, if you ever find yourself in an identity crisis because you've started talking with the voice of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE & you feel like you need a support group, just go to 3004 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD, 21218, us@ & walk inside & up to the front room of the 2nd floor & start talking to the corner of the room with the table (if there's no table, just the South-West corner will do), or the bed (if there is 1), or the pile of clothes (if there is 1), or the record-layer/tape-player (if there is 1) & wait for them to answer - & if anyone comes in & questions you because they think you're crazy, just ignore them as if they're not even there.


Impractical Seriousness: Table of Contents