Page 345 - The Grotesque Children's Book

Santi: Now that you’ve found it, the symbolism is actually a little obvious, isn’t it?
Aurelio:
The men have shawls. Blue. Red. Green. I can’t make out the fourth guard’s
Santi: shawl. It looks like he doesn’t even have a shawl. So it’s just blue, red, green.
Aurelio: And they’re all doing...what are they doing? They all have urns of some sort, and
they’re pouring out liquid at a furious pace. They’re getting rid of the water.
Santi: They’re deliberately pouring away evidence of the secret so no one else can find out
Aurelio: about it. What secret have you found out, Santi del Meglio?

(silence)

I hate you. The water represents...not just your secret, but the water of your life.
There are men who are locking up a secret to keep it hidden, and they’ve found you
and they’re pouring the water of your life out until there is nothing left of you.
Who are these men, Santi? The two in the south are fairly indistinct, but the two in
the north...what are you trying to tell me about them?

(silence)

The one seems older than the rest. Is he perhaps Allori? Your father? He...he has a
beard, and leaves in his hair. That’s not a crown of leaves, is it? Is he a poet?
Certainly some sort of elder figure. Maybe like the elder in that story about the
monster who ate children. And yet he, too, is pouring out the water of life. Wait,
look. He’s carrying a sign. Is it...I can’t read it. There doesn’t seem to be anything

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