Cathine's
daughter's, Menenome and Olivine Fallbutus, spent the
summer months in the company of a red chair. In honour of this chair, and no
doubt in his pursuit of Cathine, toy-maker
Cisgatten Fallbazz had given Menenome
and Olivine a picture book.
Menenome, perpetually eight years
old, spoke Maudine, was prone to
toothache and nose bleeds, and was happiest hanging upside down
like a bat. She sang a lot, swam well, and like a velvet
scoter, could stay under water
for five minutes.
Olivine,
perpetually four years old, a Maudine-speaker, frugivorous and neuralgic, spent
much of her time asleep. When awake, she accompanied her sister in an extended
dance, song and talk marathon with the red folding chair. Dragged along the
tide-line, floated in the sea, tied up at night to a breakwater, the chair only
lasted a summer and always had to be replaced.
Menenome remembered one word of English
which she taught her sister, though Olivine
may have remembered it for herself. They used the word to describe the VUE's
malevolence. The pronounced it with a fierce, sharp, monosyllabic stab. The word
was 'clout'.
