Lord Byron's Novel by John Crowley Read Free Book Online

have it? And why did he have it? Lord Ockham I mean, her son. Why did he keep it in this box or trunk? We don’t know.
     
    The story of Byron—I mean this Byron, Ada’s son, Lord Ockham—is strange. I didn’t know it. He apparently hated being a lord. All his life he tried to get out of it. When he was a kid he liked hanging with the workmen on the estate, pitching in with tools. His father put him in the Navy (at 14!!) to straighten him out, but he soon ran away and signed on a ship as just a regular seaman. And later he became a dockworker and shipbuilder, and called himself John Oakey or something, and just lived and died on the docks. He was pretty young when he died. And I guess he never came back for the box, which he’d put in a bank, just like a lord would do. And this was what he had in it, that he cared enough about to save it: this stuff of Ada’s, her writings and her work if it is her work, and the things of his like his seaman’s papers, and something else. Something really puzzling.
     
    Oops battery’s running out, I knew it would, cord’s back in hotel. I’ll send this so I don’t lose it. God bless wifi
     
    S
    From: “Thea”
To: “Smith”
Subject: RE:Touched them
    what puzzling
    i did not know you were going to get off on this tangent how longs this going to take i get mizzable alone you know not that i want to lay a trip on you you didnt when i went to stanford i will always be grateful but god last night i went to this dyke comedy show i asked barb to go but she was too depressed well i shouldnt go by myself to things it was funny really but u can get a little tired of tampon jokes anyway i think theres something about being in a big crowd and laughing a lot that makes people horny maybe its the pheromones maybe its me im putting out some heavy chemicals im going to get hit on by some kid with wristlets and a chain for a belt crosseyed with lust dont be surprised if i dont turn her down lol
     
    trixie (yeah shes back yo)
    From: “Smith”
To: “Thea”
Subject: Yo
    Thea (oh I mean Trixie)—
    I didn’t think you liked those metal butches. I thought you liked the raggedy angry-waif type. Was I wrong? Ooh I’m scared now. Puzzling: The long Ada manuscript (50 pages) in the trunk seems to be about a novel that Lord Byron (the father, the poet) wrote. It, the novel, was lost or stolen, and then turned up, and Ada had it, she says. She wrote these pages about how she learned about it before anybody else and got hold of it. And then there are some pages of sort of rambling notes that I guess are supposed to be about it. It’s all in pencil and it’s faint and hard to read. I’m working on it.
     
    Then there’s another page. It’s not written by her and it’s in ink. One page. On the other side is some printed notice in Italian, which I happen not to be able to read, because I’m not a phd like some people. The handwriting’s even worse. You’d have to be this person’s wife or lover to read this handwriting. I say wife or lover because I think I get what it might be. Georgiana hates to see me touching it so I can’t work with it too much. We’re like people in those movies who find a million dollars of stolen money, along with a dead body, and they can’t tell anybody or think about anything else, and it ruins their lives at least till the last scenes.
     
    I forget—is lol lots of love or laugh out loud
     
    S
    From: “Thea”
To: “Smith”
Subject: RE:Yo
    i did not say she wd be my type but i might be hers lol laugh out loud
     
    what is the math stuff can you tell
     
    t
    From: “Smith”
To: “lilith”
Subject: Georgiana
    Lilith:
    Just a quick report on how it’s going with Georgiana. Like I said on the phone, amazing woman. I can see why you