ASK LE FANTÔME

First and foremost, I should like to clarify that my “angsty teen phase” appears to be a lifelong affliction from which there is no hope of escape.

And yes--unequivocally.  “Too many notes,” as one particularly fussy critic once put it.

Yet I rarely make a habit of throwing my childhood works to the wolves of self-criticism--it is difficult to penalize a younger version of oneself when one was, perhaps for the last time, wholly and truly innocent. When music was one’s only resort and sole salvation.

Good morrow.

Warmest thanks for your concern. I have emerged relatively unscathed.

The other parties, however...

Messy business. Loud. I rather dislike that sort of cacophony. Unless, of course, I am the cause of it.

As for the latter half of your inquiry, I’ve not the foggiest idea of where such a notion originated. It is utterly, blatantly false.

All missives penned here shall cease for a temporary hiatus; I cannot say when. precisely, I will return, but rest assured, I cannot keep my mouth shut for overlong. 

In the meanwhile, I will set off to parts unknown to complete a particularly ambitious...project...of sorts. As a forewarning: pay no heed to the news reports. They will undoubtedly prove either false or egregiously exaggerated. 

Until circumstances resolve themselves into an environment more suitable for regular correspondence, I remain--

Your obedient servant,

Would “complete stranger” be a clever linguistic mask for “Nadir Khan?” Because Daroga, I swear upon my last remaining thread of patience, if you foist another pair of those thrice-damned tangles of wool you call “socks” my way, I will personally shove them down your trachea. And before you protest, I present the evidence: