14) I awoke to pebbles being tossed at my window. Could it be the good Doctor? I have no one else. Well, I am quite sure Dr. Creep is not the spindly teenager I see below. He says 'Maria' over and over again. I told him there is no Maria, at least in this room. He used some other words that might as well have been more pebbles bounced off my forehead. He left very upset. I must be in this Maria's room. Where she has gone, her local history, I cannot involve myself in. I can have no truck with the locals. I am not from here: Foreign is as foreign does.

I shall have to draw for my host a picture of this boy. My exchange with him cannot be illustrated but by a big, fat zero. Leave it at that.

Downstairs I find a pot of food with breakfast written all over it. I eat with a spoon. No one is around. The shanty is too quiet. I want to know how the night passed for my hosts. I find their bedroom without making a racket. They are not there. I enter because of the unexpectedly large library I can see through the crack at the door. Books tower from floor to ceiling. I browse with no fear of detection. I find a book of local myths and folklore. Though I cannot read the language, the volume is heavily illustrated. I am sure I can construe the stories well enough, at least for me. I remove the book for my own needs. I'll be upstairs.