THE MUSE
You owe me. Pay up. According to my accounts, you have...

CASUAL FRIEND
Send lies to the people listed below....

THE AWARDS COMMITTEE
This is to notify you that--but what's the use?...

THE WISE
The world could fall to pieces with no notice....

UNCLE AL
A chicken is a touchy creature....

THE OTHERS
Here where we live the lines are down and the surprises build into snowbanks...

DANNY
Dusty Clinton Township kids making paper roosters and snowball...

SAMUEL RENSBERGER
I am your grandfather's grandfather and through my wakeless sleep I dream...

OLD NEIGHBOR
East across low muddy fields and behind the screening trees you can see...

THE WORM COUNCIL
We call your attention to worms. Though sweeping ice age disaster...

THE HERON
I flew in down by the round deep pond behind your house...

WITNESS
I saw the largest moon ever rise huge bright yellow, sailing where it cared to...

Dear Eric,

Piles and piles of books, boxes of documents, photographs, bones, 
shreds of clothes, shards of plates--my life is consumed by artifacts. 
I take a few minutes' sleep every three or four hours, I work around 
the clock as I have for years, but the objects of my study still 
accumulate and offer no help. I do all.
	
Once (I was very young) I asked if I could have been born to 
other parents. The answer I received was not pleasing. I asked other 
questions, and now I can see this is where it all started. With 
a patience even I do not understand, I have labored to explain, 
all my life.
	
The one thing I did not keep track of was my years, and now I 
sense I am very old. I think I may be dying. But I am close to 
my triumph, almost ready to justify everything. I have not 
heard from you yet. Why? I don't need much--a brief narrative, 
an important incident or two, even a description of your footwear, 
or a lock of hair.
	
Without data on everyone, how can the pattern become clear? Please. 
I need your response.

Historian