year? Good luck with Year 11.1 think you will change.
She probably believed it would encourage me.
Elizabeth Clarry, meanwhile, is often short and sharp. I therefore conclude that it was she who wrote:
A hit too smart.
Too smart for what, Ms Clarry? Too smart for you? Canât run fast enough to keep up with my brains?
So.
No guilt.
They ought to know the nature of their souls, and I have revealed them. (Although, it was disconcerting to discover that Briony already knew about her soul. Her mother is a marine biologist! Who could have predicted?)
Next week, I will complete my task.
The final victims are Sergio and Astrid.
Sergio is innocent enough, but, like a platypus, he can surprise you with a spurt of venom. (I suppose that technically makes him venomous, since he can attack, but not very often, and not in the same league as that venomous three. None is in the same league as Astrid.)
I believe it was the platypus who wrote that I wear my hair âweirdâ and suggested that it takes âgutsâ to do so. Sergio has laughed at my hairstyle before, and is just the sort of person to twist cruelly into âcomplimentâ.
There is no doubt in my mind that Astridâthe sea waspâwrote this:
I have never spoken to Bindy, but I am sure that behind her extremely annoying personality she is a beautiful human being.
I have two things to say about Astrid:
1.
She lied when she said she had never spoken to me.
2.
She is the most venomous of all.
Third Further Extended Night Time Musings of Bindy Mackenzie
Thursday, 4.03 am
Strange, after a day like todayâI mean yesterday, of courseâ a day when I revealed two souls, and furtheralsomore . . . what a strange and wonderful word! Furtheralsomore. I love it. Anyway, furtheralsomore, I refused to attend their Saturday âget-togetherâ at Tryâs houseâ they will be wasting time, filling in foolish âconfidentialâ questionnaires andtalking about themselves, but I will have a wondrous Saturday! After Kmart, Iâll get homework done, maybe summarise my History notes, work through Hanonâs The Virtuoso Pianist, Complete Piano Exercises, match up some of my odd socks. Iâll write my speech for English next week. I always win that speech contest. Iâll feed the caâ
But where was I?
Ah, yes, strange. Strange that my symptoms of anti-climax persist even after revealing two souls.
I still have the headache, my stomach hurts, and Iâm so tired. Yet I cannot sleep tonightâperhaps I fear a return to that dream of corpses and tree roots. My arms are so heavy and numb I scarcely believe that I can lift them.
Auntie Veronica said at dinner that she feels the same way herself, so I suppose we still have that virus, but how long can it last?
âWhat a coincidence,â Uncle Jake said. âYou two having the same thing!â
What does he mean? Why should we not have the same virus? We live in the same house! I donât understand him.
And more to the point, and furtheralsomore, he doesnât pronounce the word correctly. A university professor!
âCo-inky-dence,â he says, and it makes me want to kill him.
Further Final Extended Fourth Night Musing Times of Bindy Good Night Mackenzie
Thursday, 4.52 am
Oh, I must confess it.
The Venomous Seven,
What seven? What seven?
What Venomous Seven?
There are the poisonous (Briony, Elizabeth and Sergio), there are the venomous (Toby, Emily, and unforgivable Astrid), but even the poison and the venom adds only to sixâand all along I have lied when I have called them the Venomous Seven.
I did it because it rhymed.
They are only Six, and
Finnegan
Finnegan
Finnegan Blonde
IS NOT AMONG THEM!
Why did I disgrace him by including his name in that number? Oh, the number seven, it disgraces him! And just for the sake of the rhyme! (Or anyway, it was an internal half-rhyme. The assonance of those recurring vâs and eâs . .