Page 347 - The Grotesque Children's Book

Aurelio: You’re exhausting me. Very well. One last thing?

Santi: One last thing.

Aurelio: It’s that goat, isn’t it? The one at your feet.

Santi: It’s that goat.

Aurelio: None of the other guards have goats.

Santi: That’s true. None of the other guards have goats. I’m the only one.

Aurelio: (scratching his head) All right. So...goats.

Santi: So goats.

Aurelio: This goat is rampart. Coming to you. Coming with you. You’re taking this goat
with you when you journey to the Omega. What do I remember about goats from
your stories? There was that goat chariot.

Santi: There was that goat chariot.

Aurelio: The goats were formed from the eyes of that monster. One was a jewel, another
was a powder. How can a goat be a jewel and a powder? A jewel and a powder.
Who in your world, Santi, has jewels? Who has powder? The Lady Bianca.

Santi: (grins; folds his arms)

Aurelio: Oh my God. You’ve found out a secret about the Lady Bianca. Something to do
with jewels and powders, and there are men trying to kill you. But you’re on the
run, going somewhere having to do with an Omega. Do you have...her jewels?
Santi? Did you steal Bianca’s jewels?

Santi: I stole her jewels.

Aurelio: (gasps; covers his mouth; a silence, then:) You’ve hidden them. The folio, and the
symbols in the ceiling, they’re all telling me where you’ve hidden the jewels. So
you want me to to...look for goats. Two goats. Find the right two goats, and they
will point me to the location of the jewels. The goats are the jewels. The right two
goats, and I’ve found the jewels.

(The scene suddenly shatters; Santi is gone; Aurelio is left alone, standing underneath Bay 33.
We, who are observers not only to Aurelio’s imaginary theatricals, but also the storyline in
which he features so prominently, we can see that Aurelio is now fairly close in his analysis. He
is off in only a few details. For example, Santi had meant the old woman with the bread to

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