The Inscrutable Pair
by Abu N. Prem
For CC
'M' was for Mulder, so moody and mully,
'S' was his partner, lugubrious Scully.
It was all quite inexplicable.
Frequently, something loathsome was done to a cow.
Oh, the moon shone bright on Agent Mulder,
and on his partner...
They soon learned not to drink the water,
Et o ces voix d'enfants terribles chantant la rigamarole!
Scully had her saws and trays,
Mulder had his little ways...
Details concurrent were illusions,
But William's advent drew conclusions.
Sing, O Muse, of truths ambiguous
Bore us not with plots contiguous
Conclusions unreconciliatory
Were the best part of the story.
A note on 'The Inscrutable Pair': A rather long, tedious affair discovered in the notes of Edward Gorey, this snatch of verse was happily destined to obscurity until it came to light one evening as we sat among the cats, deep in our cups before a cold driftwood fire. Intended as an illustrated text rather in the spirit of 'The Loathesome Couple', the author is still laboring, (with fabulous slowness and an ink-stained raptor quill) to complete the drawings that accompany these heartfelt lines, which Gorey himself describes as 'peculiar' and 'disconcerting'.
