“Singing for Me” by Robert Silk is being presented in the East Chapel, which is all the way the heck over there, so let’s get moving.
Would you like to hear a bit of history about the East Chapel?
[[Sure.]]
[[Not really.]]The East Chapel is where Laura Balderstone was supposed to marry Alexander Nightingale.
[[The Mormon poet?]]
[[I don’t know who that is.]]Oh.
We can walk in silence, I guess.
[[That sounds nice.]]
[[We could talk about something else.]]
[[I’m sorry. Please tell me about the chapel.]]Great.
...ten, eleven, twelve...
[[What?]]Sure.
We could talk about, for example,
I can’t think of anything.
[[Sorry.]]Uh, sure.
Laura Balderstone’s wedding to—Wait. Shut up.
Did you see that guy?
[[What guy?]]
[[That guy?]]Yes?
[[What are you counting?]]Oh. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.
Sometimes I count when I’m walking.
[[Oh.]]
[[Why?]]
[[Interesting.]]Well, not as interesting as the East Chapel, but—Wait. Shut up.
Did you see that guy?
[[What guy?]]
[[That guy?]]Yeah. My knee has this—Wait. Shut up.
Did you see that guy?
[[What guy?]]
[[That guy?]]Well, my knee is kind of—Wait. Shut up.
Did you see that guy?
[[What guy?]]
[[That guy?]]Well, possibly I’m not being a very good host. I should probably—Wait. Shut up.
Did you see that guy?
[[What guy?]]
[[That guy?]]Never mind. I thought I saw...
Hmm.
[[What are you talking about?]]No, not that guy. I thought I saw...
Hmm.
[[What are you talking about?]]Yes. Laura Balderstone was betrothed to him.
[[Was it going to be a Mormon wedding?]]He’s this poet from Colorado who went missing in the eighties and there are all these conspiracy theories about him.
Anyway, the night before the wedding—Wait. Shut up.
Did you see that guy?
[[What guy?]]
[[That guy?]]...And what is a “Mormon wedding,” exactly?
[[Just, a wedding in the Mormon tradition, I guess?]]Oh. I don't know.
I mean, presumably.
Anyway, the night before the wedding—Wait. Shut up.
Did you see that guy?
[[What guy?]]
[[That guy?]]Don’t worry about it. It’s probably nothing.
[[Is this you trying to be mysterious?]]No, no. Forget about it.
Hey, here’s the chapel already! After you...
[[Thanks.]]The atmosphere in the East Chapel is one not of reverence, but of impatience. No warm sun illumines the tall stained glass windows—only occasional flashes of lightning, casting the faces of saints and angels in ghastly white. The pews are packed not with the pious, but with the ghoulish.
So packed with the ghoulish are these pews that you and I are forced to find a seat way at the back, which it feels like happens every single time we come out to one of these convocations. But this is just as well, dear guest, for from this distant vantage we are free to observe not only the author, but his unwitting victims—whilst remaining unobserved ourselves.
[[Everyone else in the back row can hear you.]]The people back here are my friends! Look, here is my good friend Colin.
“Hi, Ryan,” Colin says, his enthusiasm mildly dampened by the grimness of our environs. He gives you a small nod.
[[Hi.]]Your conversation with my good friend Colin is cut short as Robert Silk ascends the stage. The room goes quiet. Even the rain pounding on the windows seems to abate as Robert takes his place behind the podium.
“What an appropriately scary evening!” he says, and we all chuckle in agreement.
“The story I’d like to share with you tonight takes place in a small town.” Oh, ugh.
[[Shush!]]
[[What’s the matter?]]Okay, I’ll be quiet.
“‘You can’t go home again,’ we have been told. But our protagonist will go home, expecting to find things unchanged. Do places change? Do people change? Perhaps. Or perhaps they only change in our eyes, when we discover truths that previously lay hidden.”
Robert pauses, and we all take a moment to reflect on this.
Then: “My story is called ‘Singing for Me,’” he says, as he opens a notebook (link: "and begins to read...")[(goto-url: 'eleison.html')]I’m just tired of horror stories taking place in small towns, is all. I feel like the idea of a supposedly idyllic—
[[Robert is still talking.]]Oh yeah. We should be listening to him, I guess.
“...go home again,’ we have been told. But our protagonist will go home, expecting to find...”
He’s not saying much of anything interesting, is he?
[[Would you shut up?]]Jeez, okay! I will shut up, as Robert finally opens a notebook (link: "and begins to read...")[(goto-url: 'eleison.html')]