I work up the nerve to play a little carnival game at the hell house. This involves conspiring with a group of strangers to explore the creepy parlor of a custom-designed haunted house. In the first round I stay on the sidelines as an exploratory party goes in, falls silent, then emerges fifteen minutes later with bursts of laughter and weeping. The second time I am in front, and it is my job to pick apart the mantelpiece stone by stone until the shadow of a black robe appears and we all tremble in terror. And a poorly costumed Death appears to tell us all to move on to the annual parade. A flatbed schoolbus is idling in the middle of a wide street and when it takes off I am the only one aboard. It takes me to my next appointment, with a fine-featured and red-haired young guardian I have seen somewhere before. She gives me a large binder labelled "Luddifices" and asks me to select an exercise therein. And I can't choose one without choosing them all.