It’s a little like a child’s way of speaking, or better, a sleep-talking adult. I wondered if it might be necessary to express thoughts telegraphically, very briefly, because the inscription process has to be done in furtive haste, or if it might be that the messages have to conform to the shapes of the letters and the length and layout of the text, the font also probably, and that restricts the range of possible messages. Then there is the question of whoever these messages could be meant for and how these readers find the opportunity to scan the messages once they’re written? I haven’t found any outward markings on the books or journals that would single them out, so is someone habitually skimming through all our books? Did they approach me specifically, knowing I was more likely to notice the writing?

You know, it only just occurred to me—how stupid I am!—that they are almost certainly writing messages all over, but that it’s not really so feasible even for me to see anything apart from what they insert into books. If their messages are scattered, let’s say, over billboards and street signs, or all over the buildings lining the highway, they might be too small for someone like me to see while passing at the right speed, or it may be that they their messages are too big for me to see—I might have to drive for miles to put together even one letter. I’ve tried finding messages in films, but you almost never get a long enough shot to get much more than a partial character, or maybe half a word. It’s books that provide the best chance for finding something, and even then, you have to string several books together in the right order to get a phrase. Maybe twenty books to make a sentence of any complexity. They must have some way of marking the books, to ensure that they are read in the correct order, but I haven’t found anything like that yet.

What does it mean, though? That’s what I wanted to ask you. I have my theory, and I wanted to ask you about it first. I have the feeling that this is not unrelated to automatic writing, or ghost writing. I’m not saying that ghosts are writing messages in books or wherever—I don’t think. Actually, I wonder if it isn’t, somehow, the books themselves? The writing? I mean, I know it doesn’t make sense, but writing is more than a record, isn’t it? It sounds stupid now that I say it aloud, but I can’t help feeling that the writing is conscious on its own in some way, or relaying information... I don’t know...

What do you think?