Duration 1.46
It can be appreciated that the compilation of the biography of a living person is a sensitive mater. Where it seemed necessary or desirable, and in nearly every case where the subject wanted it, various forms of anonymity where used. The VUE Commission offered its own choice of ten possible pseudonymous identities, and Squaline Fallaize, the subject of biography 10, chose identity 10 for she recognised it for another bird victim.
Squaline Fallaize has further requested that every account of her life should be brief, unillustrated and translated for her mother's benefit into Metropolitan Kath-a-ganian. She also insisted it be narrated by a woman.
Squaline Fallaize had shining eyes, a yellow skin and a blaze on her forehead in the shape of the Austro-Hungarian double-headed eagle. She spoke in whatever language took her fancy, and her whims were apparently influenced by the state of her appetite, which was usually small. She was known as a reticent conversationalist.
Squaline was paid a small retainer by the Language Commission, and when it was learnt that she was building up an appetite, the Language University at Caracas sent several senior professors to her flat on Cappis Island. A large meal was cooked slowly in Squaline's small kitchen whilst the linguistic experts sat on the floor of Squaline's dining room to listen to her fluency in forty-seven languages. The two chefs and the waiter who prepared and served the meal were paid for out of a University expense account normally reserved for ringing storks.
It has been said that there is some evidence to suggest that Squaline Fallaize is a fiction.
The Falls Biographies
