Part 11.5 - candles and fireworks, and lost geraniums

What a wonderful surprise bumping into you at TBD in Greenpoint. I'd never been there before, and we were only there because we had just left the concert at the Williamsburg waterfront. And the world is still intact - we didn't implode (see below)

nor did the world stop turning... apparently the cosmic universe doesn't care if we communicate with one another outside the established boundaries of Rowan and the Greenhouse. I actually had a very pleasant, almost picture perfect New York weekend - biking, a picnic on Governor's Island on Saturday, and Sunday brunch followed by a great free show by the Dirty Projectors in Williamsburg.

So it appears there was a mistake when distributing our pages - I in fact had two sections in a row, so part 12, which you just emailed me, takes place after what I read tonight! ah ha! we face our first test... is this really section 11.5? What if I had deliberately witheld this portion from you? did you even notice? was your section more disjointed than normal?

My portion continues directly along from part 11 ; as you may remember, Rowan had to go to the greenhouse to find a new pot and soil for her geraniums, and Kee was taking her (remember this is the middle of the night and our Rowan has a case of the heebie-jeebies). At the greenhouse they find Ah Sing, hanging out and reading a newspaper for which he is admonished for by Kee, for slacking on his guard duties. 'What on earth could he be guarding?' Rowan wonders...

Ah Sing leads her through a maze of locked doors, piles equipment, tubs of soil, and the occasional strange-looking plant. Rowan tries to get Ah Sing to explain what all the locked doors and chicken wire are for - what on earth could be so precious that requires a night guard? But he resists her questioning. And here we get to the second (at least in my mind) climax of the novel so far; the first being the death of the monk. As Ah Sing makes his way out of the room where Rowan found her pot, his flashlight passes over a figure, and it is ... dum dum de dum... Matthew Cater! Ah Sing doesn't notice though, and Rowan says nothing, in fact distracts Ah Sing so as to protect Matt. My portion ends with Rowan finding a very glum Aunt Lucy at her desk...