'Is it?' said Masklin, and shrugged. 'I don't know. We've just had it a longtime. It says it came with nomes from a long way away, a long time ago. We've looked after it for generations, haven't we, Torrit.' The old man nodded violently. 'My dad had it before me, and his father before him, and his father before him, and his brother at the same time as him, and their uncle before them-' he began.
The Stationeri scratched his head.
'It's very worrying,' he said. 'The humans are acting very strangely. Things aren't being replaced in the Store. There's signs we've never seen before. Even the Abbot's worried, he can't work out what Arnold Bros (est. 1905) expects us to do. So, er...' He bunched up his robe, untwisted it hurriedly, and went on. 'I'm the Abbot's assistant, you see. My name is Gurder. I have to do the things he can't do himself. So, er...' Well, what?' said Masklin.
'Could you come with me? Please?' 'Is there food?' said Granny Morkie, who could always put her finger on the important points.
'We'll certainly have some sent up,' said Gurder hurriedly. He backed off through the maze of joists and wiring. Please, follow me. Please.'
5
i. Yet there were some who said, We have seen Arnold Bros (est. 1905)'s new Signs in the Store, and we are Troubled for we Understand them not.
ii. For this is the Season that should be Christmas Fayre, and yet the Signs are not the Signs of Christmas Fayre; iii. Nor are they January Sales, or Back to School Week, or Spring lnto Spring Fashions, or Summer Bargains, or other Signs we know in their Season; iv. For the Signs say Clearance Sale. We are sorely Troubled.
From The Book of Nome, Complaints v.I-IV Gurder, bobbing and curtseying, led them deeper into Stationeri territory. It had a musty smell. Here and there were stacks of what Masklin was told were books. He didn't fully understand what they were for,, but Dorcas obviously thought they were important.