The Night Ocean: A Novel by Paul La Farge

Author:Paul La Farge
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2017-02-02T15:11:26+00:00

Horace Tudhope, a shrimplike man in a blue suit and unbecoming yellow tie, sits rigidly in an easy chair opposite CHARLIE, who looks relaxed and handsome. Next to TUDHOPE, DARIUS EVANS, thirtyish and already balding, fidgets with a CBC coffee mug. April Hoffmann, the presenter, sits between CHARLIE and EVANS. HOFFMANN is wearing a tan skirt suit that might have been fashionable in 1989. A copy of Charlie’s book adorns the glass-topped table, along with three more coffee mugs.

AH: Mr. Willett, let’s start with you. In your book, you claim that the anthropologist and Mexican historian Robert Barlow impersonated Parry Sound resident Leonard Spinks, for somewhat complicated reasons.

CW: That’s right. Spinks had been the previous boarder in the house where Barlow was living. He died of a heart attack, and Barlow borrowed his identity, to publish a book.

AH: Why didn’t he publish it under his own name?

CW: Because he was supposed to be dead. You see, he’d been blackmailed in Mexico, and he faked his own suicide, to escape from what had become pretty intolerable circumstances.

AH: And before that, you say, Barlow was the lover of the horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, is that correct?

CW: Strange but true.

AH: Really amazing, Mr. Willett. But here we have Mr. Evans, who tells us that Leonard Spinks isn’t dead.

DE: That’s right, April. My story begins with a letter from Mr. Tudhope, here, who told me . . .

HT: Leo’s fine! I saw him just a couple of years ago. It was during Parry Sound Days, you know, where they close down James Street to vehicle traffic, and folks come out to sell you hot dogs and soap and things like that. I came down to see what was what, and there was Leo, talking to a fellow in a clown suit. I talked to him, I mean Leo, for a few minutes. Asked if he’d been fishing over at Blind Bay. I caught half a dozen lakers . . .

DE: Horace, let’s come back to that. Like I was saying, April, I went to see Mr. Tudhope, here, and he told me he’s seen Spinks many times since his supposed death.

AH: Mr. Tudhope, you’re sure the person you saw was Leonard Spinks.

HT: [Laughs.] Who else could it have been? There’s not a lot of people like Leo in Parry Sound.

AH: Mr. Willett, can you explain this?

CW: I certainly can. Either Mr. Tudhope is confused, or he’s not telling the truth.

HT: [Deleted] you, mister. Who the [deleted] do you think you are?

AH: Mr. Tudhope! Please, we’re on television.

HT: He’s calling me a [deleted] liar.

AH: As it happens, Mr. Tudhope, Robert Barlow was a guest on our program, and we have a video clip of him cued up on the screen right behind you. I wonder if you’d mind taking a look at it?

HT: Sure.

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