Part 1

Ellis East Elementary Walk through, May 18 

Auxiliary Classroom 1.

The hallway to the two auxiliary classrooms branches off the main second floor hallway at the point where the main hallway changes from a wood to a stone floor. Alternatively, coming up the side staircase and continuing straight puts you in the auxiliary hallway. The auxiliary hallway floor is blue striped carpet, appearing to be from the 1960s. It is obviously dated, but appears to be well cared for over the years. The hallway is dark, as there are no direct windows to the outside. There are thick frosted glass windows on the classroom doors, but they do not let any light in. At the end of the hallway, there is a solid wood door with an old fashioned skeleton keyhole, it is currently held open with a fraying orange bungee cord. The walls of the hallway are painted white with errant pieces of scotch tape interspersed along the wall, a vestige of student artwork. The ceiling above me is about three feet lower than that of the main hallway, giving it a tunnel-like appearance. There are two rooms in this hallway: One at the end of the hall and one to my right on the southern wall, halfway down the hallway. 

These rooms have seen a lot of different uses in the time of school. Nana Plume, [more formally] I mean, sources inside the school have stated that when the school served grades 1-6, these rooms were used for 5th and 6th grades,  but in my time at the school, they were the individualized education rooms.  I am going to start with the door to my right. [door knob turns, door creaks]

The room is narrow twice as long as it is wide, spanning the length of the entire side hallway. There is another door on the eastern wall leading to the second auxiliary classroom, with a frosted glass window. The room has faded blue carpet–not like the kind in the hallway, but like the thin blue carpet in the kindergarten room. The room is [sounds of A-G struggling through the boxes] full of boxes of textbooks and other school supplies that have been left behind when the school moved to a new building.  

[More A-G moving noises.]

Part 2

Audio diary of Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume, Assistant Professor of Architectural History, Hollingsworth University, July 5th,  9 pm. Recorded in my formal living room. 

A review of upcoming appointments and plans.

July 7th, 1 pm, meeting with Sam in the poetry section of the local branch of the library. 

July 11th, 3 pm, I am giving a virtual lecture on the architectural history of schools in the Midwest, I finalized my presentation this morning, nothing more to do there apart from one final rehearsal. 

July 15th, 4pm onward–housewarming party Note: Set aside time to plan.

July 24th- Nana Plume’s birthday. Note: Plan some sort of dinner at the assisted living facility. Sneak along a bottle of Laphroig, what Mom doesn’t know won’t hurt her. 

July 28th, 10 am- six week check up regarding my broken arm. If everything is healing accordingly, the cast will come off. 

August 1st, Lenore will be in Hollingsworth for business. I do not have to see her, but I need to make a decision–

[PA crackle], distorted Billy voice: Please don’t contact your ex.[From 2.5]

A-G: Oh, you’re taking his side in this? Why can’t you just talk to me directly? I know you can.

[as if reconsidering] On second thought, no. I prefer your disembodied voices. Double-me was scary, and anyone else just showing up, well… yeah, no. 

[PA crackle, distorted AG voice] Go to bed, Anna-Georgina [from 2.5]

A-G [Laughs]: Fair advice. [To herself] I guess this is how this works now.

Part 3

Audio Diary of Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume, July 6th, 6 am, recorded over a cup of tea in the dining room.

[Billy enters and it’s clear A-G is not expecting him.]

A-G: Oh, good morning. 

Billy: What’s on the docket today?

A-G: I’m going to review some old records… Building permits, floor plans for other schools in the area that were built at the same time, those sorts of things.

Billy: So you’re not going to look into Lucy’s diary, or the weirdness with the dimensions of the library, or the cedar chest, or the pile of portraits in the auxiliary classroom, or anything that would help you solve the mystery of this place?

A-G: Mysteries are great and all, but not necessarily publishable…

Billy: A-G, you said the school took your form and talked to you, and you’re doing archival research about other schools? Rather than the self-aware one that is trying to tell you something? 

A-G: Okay, I do not currently have the bandwidth for anything associated with the basement, but I suppose I could handle a short jaunt into Lucy’s papers and maybe we could look into the library walls. 

Billy: That’s more like it. But you do need to confront the basement eventually. It’s not like there is anything it can throw at you down there any more.

A-G: You’re underestimating it.

Part 4

Audio Diary of Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume, June 6th, 10 am

Reviewing the mail: 

Get well soon card from Nana Plume

Get well soon card from Mr. Zaffre

Get well soon card from the department, minus [snarkily under her breath], naturally, Lavinia 

Get well soon card from the library [beat] word has gotten around, I guess. 

Most recent issue Architectural Digest

Invitation to tea from the Ellis Field Women’s League–Hard pass. 

Another issue of the New Yorker? [Muttered] Why are there so many issues of the New Yorker

An invitation to something called Gazebofest–really Dad?

An issue of American Carousel magazine addressed to a Mr. Alexander Dijon… This might be a lead on the carousel’s… [not sure what exactly to say so lands on] whole deal.

Part 5

Journal of Lucy Hobbes, Anna-Georgina Plume recording. June 6th, 4 pm

Okay, there is an envelope that just fell out of the journal… Note to self… set up an appointment with Melinda Basil to discuss the care and keeping of  records. Seriously? This journal is over 100 years old, and I’ve been doing my best to care for it, but it should have never been put in this box, and any loose papers should have been removed. I mean, I know they are a small county library in rural Ohio, but this is not that difficult. 

Anyway, I am opening the envelope–lest anyone worry, I am wearing my archival gloves.

[papers rustling, sounds of Anna-Georgina looking over it]

[Matter of factly] Oh.

[Realization] OH.

It’s a letter in Lucy’s handwriting…

I– I better just read it aloud for the record. 

[Anna-Georgina is clearly processing a lot of emotions as she is reading]

Letter from Lucy Hobbes to Helena Reeve, dated October 6, 1897.

Dearest Helena,

In light of recent events,  I feel I owe you an explanation. I do not know how to tell this story in a believable fashion. It is fantastical, and despite having lived it, I struggle to believe it myself. Yet, given what is at stake, I feel you need to know so that you can decide what to do next. I will present you with the facts as I know them, without embellishment or commentary.

Algernon and I grew up in a Utopian society known as The New Borealis. In fact, I was born there. Our parents believed that there was a way to contact a genius loci, or the spirit of a place to enhance the feelings of community. It was their goal to create a community where peace for all would be possible with the support of the genius loci. If they could harness its power on a small scale, they could, they believe, expand the community’s reach and bring about world peace and harmony with nature. Their vision was a noble one, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts, and when I was about ten years old, they were met with violence from members of the nearest town, either because they had caught wind of the genius loci idea, or more realistically because we held beliefs of social equality that many people do not agree with even today. Or, perhaps they confused us with any number of other utopian societies arising throughout the country at that time, many of them holding odd beliefs. 

Who am I to say, really, and my time outside of the community has led me to see how odd our beliefs would appear to the uninitiated, were it not for what I am about to tell you, I would not even consider myself to be a true believer, and even knowing what I know, I do not believe the sort of devotion espoused by New Borealis is the answer, either.

Returning now to my past: my father did not survive as we fled, and my mother disavowed the community’s beliefs out of survival. She was never the same after my father’s death, and would follow him five years later, leaving me alone in the world, save for my brother. But Algernon held onto these beliefs, first in secret as a teenager, and then openly as a young man, seeking out spiritualist communities and the arcane, connecting with charlatans who performed parlor tricks, in search of someone who might be able to bring about the world he seeks. Even as a man of science, capable of seeing through the trickery of frauds, he continued to pursue the possibility that someone could bring about a conscious manifestation of the genius loci. While I disavowed this belief, seeing what it had done to my family, my brother began corresponding with former members of New Borealis and  they began to fill his head with the idea that I alone possessed the ability to bring forward the genius loci. I refused my brother at every turn, but I could not abandon him, as he was the only member of my family remaining.

Twelve years ago, shortly before the school was to open, we were facing violence once again from townsmen, and Algernon pressured me to attempt to manifest the genius loci, convinced that doing so would create an environment that would make brokering peace with the residents of Ellis Field possible. I did not believe him, but as the threats got more terrifying, I allowed myself to remember. For the first time–to my knowledge–such a spirit has been manifested.

It is the school, Helena. The energy you feel, the voices rooms away, the building’s friendship with Elizabeth–it is not imagination, metaphor, or delusion. It is real, and it will protect the good intentions of this space. However, as the men of the town are once again angry at us, I do not know what will happen should they attempt to escalate the conflict. I do not know what will come of those protective instincts.

In full knowledge of this and everything that has transpired over the past few days. I am giving you, James, and Elizabeth the opportunity to leave before whatever might happen next. More than the opportunity, I am encouraging you to leave. We have colleagues in Ada, at the Ohio Normal University who will welcome you, especially with my letter of recommendation. I cannot bring myself to dismiss you, so you will always have a place here, but against my own heart, I urge you to leave Ellis Field at once. 

I love you dearly, but you must look after your family. I have given you the full information you need to make a decision about what to do next.

Lucy.

A-G Plume commentary. I- 

I don’t

I can't–

[Recording ends] 

Part 6

Billy: Okay, do your record thing. July 6th, 7pm, after dinner, audio diary… You get the idea… [Beath] I’ve moved the books out of these shelves so we can take a look

A-G: Please don’t ruin my grandmother’s library

Billy: It is your library, and we’re not damaging anything, we’re just going to see if we can take a closer look at these shelves… You said that there is space in between the walls in the floor plans.. Lets see, do the shelves move? 

A-G: Billy, Be careful

[Creaking noise]

Billy: Well that answers that question

A-G: A secret passage?

Billy: Just a second, [flashlight clicks] 

A-G: [distant, she’s in the room] It’s a secret room. I don’t think it leads anywhere.

Billy: Did you find anything? 

A-G: There’s a reading chair in here in surprisingly good condition and… boxes of records… Seriously, does NO ONE care about record integrity?

Part 7

A-G: [Whispered] Audio Diary of Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume, July 7th, five minutes to 1 pm, in the poetry section of the library. I am here to meet Sam and—

Sam: Did you come alone?

A-G: What gives?

Sam: Are you going to answer my question?

A-G: Honestly, no. My roommate wanted to check out the reference section, but you’ve got nothing to worry about, he thinks this whole thing is weird.

Sam: Medium roast with almond milk and a sprinkle of nutmeg? He seems trustworthy.

A-G: So what is this about? You’re afraid of me, then you know things about me that you shouldn’t, then you’re leaving weird messages at my door…

Sam: The school. Have you figured out their whole deal yet?

A-G: [to herself] I guess we all just know the school is a they.

Sam: The school is self-aware, it feels weird calling a sentience it, don’t you think? 

A-G: Fair enough. Plus the royal we.

Sam: You talked to them? Like, directly?

A-G: Twice, I think. I don’t know, it was weird.

Sam: What were they like? What did they look like?

A-G: You’ve  got to give me something.

Sam: Did you see them–when you were younger? I mean, maybe you don’t know if you did–

A-G: I did. They told me directly, but I think I would have figured it out regardless.

Sam: It was you, you know. They were you. 

A-G: What? 

Sam: The form they took.

A-G: That is… unsettling

Sam: So, after years of being told that you didn’t exist, I learned that you did–

A-G: When I came into the coffee shop…

Sam: No, earlier. It’s a long story. Anyway, when I was 13, I learned that you exist for real, just differently than expected. But, like, I only knew it theoretically.

A-G: Okay…

Sam: And then, like, out of nowhere, I’m just minding my own business at work, when London-Fog-with-Rose-Petals gives me her credit card, and it’s you. Of course, when I realized it was you, I could suddenly see the resemblance, too. You’re really real.

A-G: So, you saw a reflection of a memory of me. That’s, I guess, how it works.

Sam: So do you think yours are still alive as well? 

A-G: Who’s to say?

[beat]

Sam: So… could I come over? See the school?

A-G: Would that be weird? Like, you’re a teenager, right? Do you need your parents’ permission?

Sam: I could tell them I’m doing a project on the school–

A-G: I’m going to stop you right there. You’re not going to lie to your parents about this. 

Sam: You never lied to your parents?

A-G: I never said that. I mean, I didn’t do it very often, and it was usually because I was sneaking into lectures at universities… I had a fake college ID that got me into so many great talks… Wait. Why am I telling you this? The point is that it would be weird, and frankly unethical, for me, an adult, to knowingly allow you, a minor, to lie.

Sam: If I told them I asked you if I could see the inside building to see if it’s like I remember it?

A-G: I suppose that is enough within the ballpark of the truth for me [beat]. You’re looking around. We’ll give you the tour, but that’s it. You’re not ghost hunting. 

Sam: But if the ghosts happen to show up?

A-G: I can’t stop it, but at the first hint of danger, you’re back out on the sidewalk. [To self] I don’t think it’s dangerous, though, except-

Sam: For the basement

A-G: How did you– You know what, no. We’re not going down that path today, my life is already too absurd.

Sam: Okay. I’ll stop by around noon, next Wednesday? Can I bring a friend?

A-G: Works for me… One friend, though. I don’t want the whole Ellis High Paranormal club traipsing around my home.

Part 8

It’s a regular 70’s time capsule in here. 

[More formally]

Ellis East Elementary Walk Through, May 18th

[Box noises] 

These boxes make it difficult for me to make my notes. Like, there is not much here. The room is white, rather nondescript, and full of just about everything they decided not to take to the school. I mean, some of this stuff is on tables, so I guess you could say there are also tables here, which are exactly the types of tables you would expect to see in an elementary school setting–wooden, with adjustable height. There are no chairs or desks though. 

[Sounds of rifling through boxes] Math workbooks, reading workbooks, a vellum envelope full of paper dolls in Victorian dress that someone has handwritten Helena and James on the back of, those little valentine cards given out in elementary school, more math workbooks. Must not get distracted by the [spoken as if she is gesturing broad] objects. I am here to note the architecture. 

Let’s see, there is a row of windows on the other side of the room on the long southern wall. They look out over the roof of the gymnasium. On the wall on the narrow end of the room there is a small bulletin board, which is not covered in paper. Beside the hallway door on the long wall opposite the windows is a small green chalkboard, with a large diamond drawn on it with blue chalk. The bottom right line of the diamond extends beyond the bottom corner by about two inches. There is also some cursive handwriting on the board that has been erased but is still partially legible. I can make out “what is underneath?”  I am continuing through the connecting door to the second auxiliary classroom. 

END CREDITS

Lavender Evening Fog is a fiction podcast. This episode was written by Victoria Dickman-Burnett, direction and script supervision by Ben Baird, produced, mixed, and edited  by Nick Federinko with additional editing by Victoria Dickman-Burnett. Executive Producers are Ben Baird and Victoria Dickman-Burnett. The voice of Anna-Georgina Plume is Victoria Dickman-Burnett. The voice of Billy is Nick Federinko. The voice of Sam the Barista is Trinity Shaya. The Lavender Evening Fog logo was designed by Alicyn Dickman and Ms. Bitey, our carousel opossum was designed by Matt Lowe.  This episode is brought to you by even more dreams with hidden meaning. This episode pairs well with a spicy black tea with notes of date.

Episode 3.1: Auxiliary Classroom 1

Transcript