From The Space In The Shape

Diego comes round, to return Gaius's bicycle.

Thanks for the loan, says Diego. It's a very cool bicycle.

Snotty gobble, says Gaius. I must write that down. Do you have a pencil?

Yes of course, says Diego.

Aren't some people obliging?

Gaius writes down snotty gobble.

What is snotty gobble? asks Diego.

Cassytha pubescens. A native parasite plant and a good weed controller, says Gaius. I intend to find out if bandicoots eat it.

It sounds delicious, says Diego. Well, I've come to say goodbye. I'm going back to Tenerife in the morning.

Have a safe journey, says Gaius.

Good luck with the spider, says Diego.

Spider? What spider? Asks Gaius.

I heard you found a dead one on Roque Nublo, says Diego. Ying told me.

Saturn's Great Spider Ball Sacs! cries Gaius, mixing his metaphors. I'd completely forgotten!

Do you still have it? asks Diego.

I do, somewhere, says Gaius.

He rummages around in the back pack he hasn't unpacked yet.

 Ah yes, the dead spider. He holds it up to the light.

Look at that, will you, says Daniel O'Connell to Dedalus.

I'm looking, says Dedalus. Is it our cousin?

Too many legs, sniffs the Pesquet.

A cruel remark from the Pesquet.

The Pesquet has come to return a borrowed bicycle to Baby Pierre's cousin.

Baby Pierre is not there. And where is the cousin?

On the window sill where Baby Pierre sleeps occasionally, is a whole row of potential cousins, eyeing the Pesquet.

May we help you? asks Kobo.

She isn't a cousin, she is a fossilised clam.

Whose bicycle is this? asks the Pesquet. I'm returning it.

Lavender! calls Kobo. Do you know anything about a borrowed bicycle?

No, nothing. (The voice is coming from somewhere in space. A space in the shape of an auger).

Just leave it here, says Kobo. It'll be someone's.

A thought strikes her. It's not Ageless's, is it?

Diego is examining the dead spider.

Would you like me to take it back with me to La Laguna, and analyse it?

That seems rather a waste of me bringing it back here, says Gaius.

But you had forgotten about it, says Diego.

True, says Gaius. All right then. That is very kind. Let me know what you find out.

Our cousin! cries Dedalus.

Potential cousin, says Daniel O'Connell.

It's GOING, cries Dedalus.

It's DEAD, says Kobo.

Why is she interfering?

She has been reading as usual. This time, 'The Dream of the Celt'.

Now all these interruptions about bicycles, cousins and spiders.

And the Parrot, surely it's something to do with Terence. Kobo can put two and two together as well as the next clam.

And the borrowed bicycle. Too big for a pebble or shell.

The more she thinks about it the more she is sure that the bicycle has been borrowed, perhaps unknowingly, from Ageless Lobster.

Her one time beloved.

That does it. She will write him a note.

She has no need of a pencil.

ageless yes its me dont think i want to be writing to you
oh no i vowed i would never, mmmm, never not after you
but have you noticed a lack of a bicycle
there is one here your size no i am not meaning
o ageless why dont you come over
are you still in the library there
i have been reading the dream of the celt
it is about roger casement
the irish sp... i nearly wrote spider...
ageless come, i have baked you a
ha ha no i havent.... mmm

Seconds later, in the State Library, Ageless Lobster receives the teasing letter......