NOTATION ON HIDDEN CHILDREN
Jason Schwartz
The Hunt commences in a hollow or copse. A parlor, a yard, a lawn—these are for other occasions. Grave, given the hidden children, appears the most common variation. It requires five bones, paint or lye, and a figure in the distance. It is akin to Church Windows, despite the gate, and to Wolf, despite the bats. In the former, the killer blinds at a barn wall. In the latter, a barn burns down.
Now there is ample view of the animals.
Branks, in which the partners quarrel—this is for the parlor. Hatpins—especially those foreign in design—have something of a ceremonial function here. This is less true of ruined broomsticks. The draw spoils, at length. The windows lose the blue roofs in the afternoon.
Poor Eleanor falls from favor by the end of the century. Later variations require privet hedges—and poison for the vermin. The forms, from above, may suggest graves, though daughters will also do. Orphans on the lawn—not to mention pitchforks—invite greater complications, especially at night.
Animals die behind a schoolhouse.
The Hunt commences in a hollow or copse. Cuts are drawn from wooden boxes—red or brown, as per local practice. The patterns in the dirt may suggest a different game, with rocks in place of the faces. Grave appears better suited to a hayfield. It is akin to Church Windows, despite the carriage tracks, and to Wolf, despite the rows of claws on the wall. In the former, the girl waits at a door. In the latter, she closes her eyes and dies.