HitH: Chapter 3 - "A Flat Lunch" (IC)

[David68]

"In fact, it seems stranger to me that the rest of Mirtle's body was intact than that his head was missing. I am no expert on the physics of crashes, but an intact body and a missing head is strange, not because the head was missing but because the body was intact . . . if that makes sense."

Kirk takes out his notes and replies. "Ok, so I found that his decapitated body was found in the wreckage of his monoplane. But I can't remember having read that the rest of his body was intact or that the head was missing all together. It might be that the head was found lying close to the body, itself heavily damaged. (noticing Tabs having some difficulties with eating, he coughs and adds) well maybe better skip the details... "

"Very strange, as you say, but isn't it possible that given how large the English countryside is and how small the remains of a crashed plane would be . . . that the debris from these crashes is just as yet undiscovered? I'm not sure there's enough there to rule out a simple coincidence."

"And then... well... I mean... (reads from his notes) George Baxter went missing in 1919 and Joyce Armstrong in 1921, that's 3 to 5 years that people have been searching for their bodies. I mean... they were famous pilots trying to break a record... everybody would be looking for them... EVERYBODY!... People don't just disappear after an accident in the middle of the civilised world, right? And given that I imagine they probably flew during day time, the sound and sight of a plane diving down and crashing should have most probably warned at least one accidental spectator? It's not like the countryside is totally void of people, right?

[Mort]

While the society members talked, Amelia made her way in and out of the kitchen bringing everyone lunch, drinks, coffee, and eventually dessert.

"Sir, maybe we can leave this matter to you? whilst we go off to investigate the missing Dumont and the altimeter."

Who knows? The guy could be living just around the corner for all we know."

Bennett listened to Tabs and Seamus, took a drink, and nodded. "It is a worthy endeavor. I will do my best to track it down," he said. "I can try to ring you in North Carolina if I find anything . . . if I don't find it before you leave, that is."

But I can't remember having read that the rest of his body was intact or that the head was missing all together. It might be that the head was found lying close to the body, itself heavily damaged. "

"Hmmmmm," Bennett mused. "So it could be that his body was mangled in the crash, and his unfortunate decapitation was just a sad but natural result of physics. Or, it could be that he crash-landed his plane and then was then relieved of his head in some way. Or was relieved of his head in mid-air, resulting in the crashing of the plane." Bennett grunted his disapproval. "We don't seem to have enough information to properly evaluate the strangeness of these facts."

And given that I imagine they probably flew during day time, the sound and sight of a plane diving down and crashing should have most probably warned at least one accidental spectator? It's not like the countryside is totally void of people, right?[/b]

"The plane could have landed in a pond or lake . . . or in one of their moors that Mr. Doyle is so fond of writing about." Bennett took another bite of his lunch and chewed slowly before speaking again. "It seems, that any . . . all of these occurrences have . . . or could have perfectly natural explanations. No one of them seems strange at all when taken in isolation." Bennett closed his eyes again and looked lost in thought for a moment before he continued. "I was talking with a dear friend of mine at Harvard just the other day, the Reverend Doctor Gordon Miller. Miller is a textual critic and an expert in the early transmission of the New Testament and other ancient documents. He is working on a new critical edition of Herodotus with some of the faculty from the Classics department. I stopped by his office in the chapel to see what he was up to, and he had on his desk published editions of two very ancient copies of The Histories. These two manuscripts disagreed on their wording in several places in their telling of the unfortunate tale of Gyges, and Dr. Miller was trying to reconstruct which of these two readings were more likely what Herodotus really wrote. He told me that it isn't enough to look at isolated variations when deciding these things. A textual critic must take into account the entire history of transmission, which manuscript tends to be more reliable, and which word, based on the rest of the text, was Herodotus more likely to use." Bennett looked excited, like he was about to launch into a class lecture. His fascination with other disciplines was legendary, as were his "rabbit trails." "Two experts in the field from the previous century established--" Bennett caught himself. "Well, my point is . . . we can't look at these events in isolation. We must look at these events as a reconstructed history. A missing young man is not strange. A crashed pilot is not strange. A pilot decapitated in a crash is not strange. An altimeter that turns up in an unusual place is not strange. But when a young man goes missing after finding the lost altimeter from the missing pilot who died in a spate of crashes, all in the same area, one of which resulted in decapitation and other weirdness . . . that is strange." Bennett took another bite of his lunch and then added, "If you take my meaning."

[George Gammell]

Felix

“Well said, Mr. Bennett. I believe there is a rational explanation for each of these facts, but until we discover it, they are really strange.”
“So far, I don’t think we found any information that would change our next steps: traveling to North Carolina, meeting Mr. Dumont and investigating the pawn shop. Maybe that Armstrong’s diary could bring some new light on the matter, but we don’t have the time to search for it.”

Felix leans back, joins his hand under his chin, thinks for a while, and says:

“We don’t know what expects us, or how long we will be on the road, so preparation is essential. I’m thinking about two or three suits, one top hat and, of course, no less than one tuxedo. What do you think about it?”

[philjun]

Seamus Behan

“We don’t know what expects us, or how long we will be on the road, so preparation is essential. I’m thinking about two or three suits, one top hat and, of course, no less than one tuxedo. What do you think about it?”

Seamus can't help but laugh at Felix' last remark. "I must admit that I wasn't exactly thinking of tuxedos, dear friend." Then he frowns: "I am more concerned with bringing my photographic equipment with me on the trip. It might be possible to set up an improvised dark room somewhere, so I guess I should pack accordingly. But more importantly... how do we plan on getting there?"

[David68]

While the society members talked, Amelia made her way in and out of the kitchen bringing everyone lunch, drinks, coffee, and eventually dessert.

Kirk takes a bit from everything but doesn't mention he had already lunch at noon unless Mr. Bennett or Amelia would ask him why he doesn't seem very hungry.

Well said, Mr. Bennett. I believe there is a rational explanation for each of these facts, but until we discover it, they are really strange.”

Kirk doesn't look completely satisfied with Mr. Bennett's reply, but decides to move on: "Anyway, we're not going to travel to England any time soon, I suppose and the only connection we have with those accidents is an altimeter and how can we even be sure that it really IS the altimeter of Mr. Armstrong? The one thing that keeps me going is our missing Dumont guy, but this might well be not related at all.

Mr. Bennett, your friend seemed convinced the altimeter belonged to Joyce-Armstrong and you have no doubt at all about his judgment?

“We don’t know what expects us, or how long we will be on the road, so preparation is essential. I’m thinking about two or three suits, one top hat and, of course, no less than one tuxedo. What do you think about it?”

"Well I was thinking about two weeks to be sure? That's what I said at my work."

how do we plan on getting there?"

"If we want to try finding young Dumont, a car would be useful, I think. Or maybe we can go by train and then ask the family if someone wants to help us find him, so we can use their car?"

[Mort]

Mr. Bennett, your friend seemed convinced the altimeter belonged to Joyce-Armstrong and you have no doubt at all about his judgment? [/b]

"There is always doubt in such matters," Bennett said. "But, according to him, the altimeter matched the detailed published descriptions of the Joyce-Armstrong altimeter. Such publications were made in order to help searchers find and identify the body. That leads me to believe that it is either a forgery or the genuine article. No obvious reasons for a forgery to be made have presented themselves. Neither the seller nor the buyer nor the recipient of the device for that matter knew it was supposed to be famous. All facts point to it being the genuine article, though "beyond doubt" I am not."

"If we want to try finding young Dumont, a car would be useful, I think. Or maybe we can go by train and then ask the family if someone wants to help us find him, so we can use their car?"

Bennett smiled "I know little about this Dumont family, but it sounds like their son was a bit of a gad-about. His and his father's interest in flying would indicate some wealth. Flying is not an inexpensive hobby. They may very well have a car to put at your disposal."

[Tabs]

Re. Histories by Herodotus, Bennett said: These two manuscripts disagreed on their wording in several places

   She listens and then replies in a serious and thoughtful manner.
   "Like the Bible then. Scribes who copied down the original Gospels made mistakes--especially if they didn't fully understand Greek or Latin--also, transcription errors were magnified with time, like chinese whispers. I wonder if the original Gospels will ever be discovered, and will anyone really care if they differ from existing dogma?"

Felix said: of course, no less than one tuxedo

   "Oh yes! I'll be sure to pack a nice dress, just in case we are invited to a ritzy dinner."

Bennett said: They may very well have a car to put at your disposal.

   "In that case we travel by train to North Carolina."

[Mort]

"Like the Bible then . . .

Bennett tapped the side of his head. "Great minds think alike, my dear. I asked the good doctor exactly that, but he told me with great exuberance that the text-critical issues with Herodotus were far different than those with the New Testament. For starters . . ." Bennett crinkled his brow as he always did when he was activating his stellar memory and about to rattle off a long list of facts. His students knew the look well. It was the look that told them it was time to start taking notes in earnest. "For starters, quite unlike the New Testament, Herodotus only survives in five ancient texts, and these five all originated in the same part of the world and all date to the same basic time period . . . the middle ages. Because of this fact there are far fewer variations among the manuscripts of Herodotus than there are with the New Testament which has thousands of manuscripts from all over the world, dating from the third to the sixteenth century. But the variations within the Herodotus manuscripts are not nearly as insignificant as the variations that make up most of the differences among the New Testament manuscripts. Regional spellings of words, simple scribal errors, changes in tense caused by harmonization or auditory confusion, and the like don't exist in Herodotus for the most part. What scholars are left with are a number of very significant variations which can't, unlike the New Testament, be easily sorted out based on a history of the transmission of the text. As Dr. Miller put it: 'With Herodotus we only have five witnesses to his text which are all quite different and all very late--the earliest is 1300 years after Herodotus wrote--with no easy way to adjudicate between them. Give me the New Testament any day!'" Bennett grinned. "I'm not sure if that was his piety speaking as much as his desire to convince me of how hard he was working. You know how those academic types can be." Bennett rolled his eyes at the irony.

By this point in the conversation, Amelia had begun to clear the table. "But you all didn't come here to listen to an old man ramble about a discipline he really knows nothing about. It sounds as though you have a basic plan. Travel by train to North Carolina and meet with the Dumont family. While there you will also want to see my friend Mr. Wilder for sure. At that point . . . you'll have to follow where your noses lead. So, when do you all plan on leaving?"

[Tabs]

   Tabitha listens intently to Mr. Bennett.

Herodotus only survives in five ancient texts

   "What a shame that the Histories were neglected until modern times--I suppose the texts which did survive did so by chance.
   "Dr. Miller sounds like the ideal man to look at the Armstrong Journal Fragments, should we ever get hold of them."

[George Gammell]

Felix

Kirk: ... maybe the restless spirit of Mr. Armstrong is somehow connected to his altimeter and now he did something with young Dumont...(frowns his face and sighs)  my imagination"

"Kirk, do not underestimate your imagination. If I got a chance to hold that altimeter, I will know whether it contains any soul , but I don’t believe that anyone's spirit, released from the boundaries of its body, would choose to be locked inside any object."

"Great! So how do we fix an appointment with Mr. Wilder and Mr. Dumont? Will you call them, Mr. Bennett? And maybe you could ask right away if we can use a car, if necessary?"

"That would be great indeed. Would you do it, Mr. Bennett?"

Bennett: So, when do you all plan on leaving?

"I can leave tomorrow morning, what about you?"

[Mort]

Kirk's face suddenly lights up. "Wait a minute... maybe the restless spirit of Mr. Armstrong is somehow connected to his altimeter and now he did something with young Dumont... (frowns his face and sighs)  my imagination" at which the others understand that he doesn't really believe this.

Bennett looked deadly serious. "An interesting theory, but it does not take into account the other data you've collected, such as the location and nature of so many of the crashes. And why would the spirit target the young Dumont? Why not the person who sold the device to the pawn shop, or the pawn shop owner? Or what--" It was then that Bennett realized that Kirk was only jesting. Bennett rolled his eyes again and smiled.

"What a shame that the Histories were neglected until modern times--I suppose the texts which did survive did so by chance.
   "Dr. Miller sounds like the ideal man to look at the Armstrong Journal Fragments, should we ever get hold of them."

"The texts of Herodotus probably made their way into the west as Orthodox monastics fled the east and an ever-expanding Islam, so luck was surely involved.  But I was informed that these manuscripts were largely preserved in the west and the east by devout Christian monks. The middle ages, however, were hard on manuscripts despite the best efforts of the faithful . . . especially manuscripts that weren't in wide use. And no Greek manuscript was in much use in the west outside of a monastery. Hence, Herodotus was faithfully preserved, but only in a few copies.

"Great! So how do we fix an appointment with Mr. Wilder and Mr. Dumont? Will you call them, Mr. Bennett? And maybe you could ask right away if we can use a car, if necessary?"

All of the society members expressed a similar sentiment. Bennett sighed. He clearly didn't like being put on the spot. "Okay. I will ring Wilder tonight at a more civilized hour and request that he contact Dumont to make all the arrangements. If you do leave tomorrow early, stop by here, and I'll have all the information for you. If you don't catch me before I'm off in the morning, I'll leave all the necessary details with Amelia."

[David68]

Bennett looked deadly serious. "An interesting theory, but it does not take into account the other data you've collected, such as the location and nature of so many of the crashes. And why would the spirit target the young Dumont? Why not the person who sold the device to the pawn shop, or the pawn shop owner? Or what--"

"Exactly", Kirk replies.

"Kirk, do not underestimate your imagination. If I got a chance to hold that altimeter, I will know whether it contains any soul , but I don’t believe that anyone's spirit, released from the boundaries of its body, would choose to be locked inside any object."

"Doesn't have to be locked inside. It could be simply something like: (raises his open hands with wide open eyes as to make a terrifying announcement) the curse of Joyce-Armstrong!! ... (he keeps serious for a few seconds then bursts out laughing)... nah I don't think there's something... it's all a bit too vague and mysterious...

"I can leave tomorrow morning, what about you?"

"Right! I am too impatient now. Don't want to spend another day at the library and if we're going to save young Dumont, better not waste time."

Kirk only has half an ear on Mr. Bennett's story about Herodotus and doesn't reply to it.

[Tabs]

   "As always, the Boston Esoteric Society has provided me with plenty of 'food for thought.' Gentlemen: it has been a fascinating afternoon.
   "Now, I must go and pack my suitcase."

[philjun]

Seamus Behan

"Ah, yes, we'd better get packing then. I am ready and most eager to leave tomorrow as well. Who will reserve train tickets? Perhaps we can leave that matter to you as well, Mr. Bennett?"

[Mort]

Bennett grumbled at all the requests. "Let me get on that then," he growled and stood up. "You all let yourselves out." With that, Bennett excused himself and disappeared back into his office. The society members knew the old man well enough to know that this type of grumbling, though not common from Bennett, was not as serious as he let on. Bennett would do as they asked and make all the arrangements. He'd just fume about being put upon for a few minutes first and never let them forget his generosity.

As soon as Bennett disappeared, Amelia reappeared from the kitchen to get the rest of the dishes.

[George Gammell]

Felix

“Thank you, Br. Bennet”, Felix says as the Professor leaves.

As soon as Bennett disappeared, Amelia reappeared from the kitchen to get the rest of the dishes.

“And thank you to Amelia, for the wonderful lunch.”

“Well, I guess it is time for us to leave". Felix stays in his place and will wait to leave with Seamus.

[David68]

Bennett grumbled at all the requests. "Let me get on that then," he growled and stood up. "You all let yourselves out." With that, Bennett excused himself and disappeared back into his office.

As Mr. Bennett leaves the room, Kirk says: "Thank you very much, Mr. Bennett!" and smiles at the others in reaction to Mr. Bennett's grumbling. He then stands up with the others and leaves.

[Mort]

“And thank you to Amelia, for the wonderful lunch.”

Amelia nodded.  "You are welcome. Enjoy your little adventure," she added as she continued to clear the table.

. . . and smiles at the others in reaction to Mr. Bennett's grumbling.

Amelia caught the look and grinned, but didn't say anything.

[Mort]

Amelia saw everyone out with little comment besides the necessary pleasantries. She made no apology for the noticeable absence of Bennett.

The society members exited quickly without lingering. They were excited to get home to pack. They were going on a road trip and soon!