Note: All text in brackets denotes stage directions.

[All lines are delivered by Anna-Georgina Plume]

Part 1

[The audio has a hollow quality, Anna-Georgina’s voice is in formal mode, recording notes, there is a creaking of the gate as she speaks]

Ellis East Elementary School Walk Through, May 18th:  

[pause]  

The Front Gate 

The building is surrounded by a wrought iron fence with a double gate at the head of the path leading to the front door. The gate stands about seven feet tall, and has elaborate ironwork, with  the school’s name in gold-leaf calligraphy at the center. The fence is about four and a half feet  tall with pointed spikes at the top to discourage climbing. During the years the school was in  operation, the gate was locked at promptly at 8 pm every evening, unless there was a school  function. It was opened again at 5:30 am the next weekday morning. There is an additional  padlock on the gate now, likely to prevent anyone from accessing the school yard. The  playground is still standing and probably constitutes an attractive nuisance in the eyes of the  law. 

Part 2

[The audio quality is warmer, Anna-Georgina’s voice is softer and more conversational than the previous scene]

Audio Diary of Dr. Anna-Georgina Plume, Assistant Professor of Architectural History and  Preservation, Hollingsworth University, May 17th, 8:00 am. Recorded in the living room of my  apartment over morning tea.  

[pause] 

Okay, [sighs] I can do this. This afternoon, I am travelling to my parents’ house, where I will  begin the search for a new home in the town where I grew up. Due to my grandmother’s recent 

health difficulties and resulting move to assisted living care, it makes more sense for me to  commute the 45 minutes to work while living closer to my family. Plus, my current apartment  was intended for students, and I feel like I’m extending the grad school way of life, which really  is not compatible with owning three dogs, especially when one of them is a full-grown Labrador Retriever. [Earnestly] Look, I don’t relish the thought of returning to Ellis Field, and I was kind  of afraid this was inevitable when I accepted the job at Hollingsworth given how close to home it  is. But my family needs me. Plus, with my upcoming yearlong sabbatical, I’ll have 15 months to  settle in.  

[More confidently] Today’s agenda: I have to proctor my classes final exams at 10 am. My bags  are packed, the dogs can spend the exam period in my office and I can leave directly from  campus around noon, with any luck.  

Part 3

[The audio quality and Anna-Georgina’s voice are similar to the previous scene]

May 17th, 2:09 pm  

[sigh] Well, I wound up getting a late start due to a student oversleeping and arriving a half an  hour before the end of the exam time and then after she finished, I got cornered by [says name with exasperation] Lavinia  Morgenstern on my way to pick up the dogs back at my office. I am now about to arrive in Ellis  Field, but I figured a voice memo was in order, just to mentally sort out what needs to be done. 

[Somewhat absent-mindedly] 

Remember to pick up the groceries for Nana before going to the assisted living facility. Call  Mom, she may have some more errands to run. Ask her to pick up realty listings from the post  office, as I am not moving into my childhood bedroom. Order pizza for dinner. One medium taco  pizza, one medium mushroom pizza, and one medium pizza with cream cheese and marinara  sauces, pineapple, and banana peppers.

Compile notes before the meeting of the textbook adoption committee. [short dry laugh to self] Remember to email members of textbook adoption  committee about a firm stop time for the meeting. [Under breath] I don’t think anyone wants to  relive what happened last spring. [Normal voice] Review disciplinary committee cases. If they’re  all youthful pranks that do not rise to the level of suspension from campus, propose just  assigning an essay on good citizenship. Order dog licenses. Needed information- Contact info,  which I have, dog names: Oolong, Earl Grey, and Glengettie. Breeds-Dachshund, Chocolate Lab,  and Pembroke Welsh Corgi, respectively. Good boys all. [clearly talking to dogs] Yes you are! 

[Suddenly more conversational, animated]  

That’s interesting. The East building is for sale. It’s weird how much I loved that building,  considering how few friends I had in those days. Would it be odd for me to call up and express  interest in buying the building just to see it one more time? At any rate, note to self to follow up  on this… That building was a big part of my childhood and a walk down memory lane can’t hurt.  Plus I study educational architecture of the Victorian era and the building was built in 1885. I can  probably take some notes for research purposes. 

[returning to tone of previous list of items, dogs bark] 

I’m about to arrive at my parents’ house, so this concludes this entry. [as if talking to a dog]  Oolong, stop whining, we’ll go for walkies in a few minutes. 

Part 4

[Audio quality and tone are similar to the previous scene]

May 17th, 4:15 pm 

[Brightly, more engaged and conversational] 

Settling in for a while in my childhood bedroom. Having talked to my parents, I have a few  updates and then I’m ready to sit down with the local real-estate listings.

First, apparently a coffee shop has opened up here in Ellis Field. I didn’t think there would be  much of a market for it, given it is a town of 500 people and most local establishments serve  coffee in the standard [run the next few words together like they are a single thought] orange-for leaded/brown-for-decaf glass pots like the diner in Twin Peaks. I can’t imagine most of the locals  going in for fancy coffee. Still, this is a godsend for me, and makes moving back here slightly  easier. There’s probably a joke in there about educated elites and coffee snobbery, but my entire  dissertation was written at a coffee shop, so this will be helpful as I write my monograph during  summer break and throughout my sabbatical. I mean, I always go for tea, but still.  

Second, Maryann is handling the sale of the East building, and she is happy to give me a tour  without any pretense of being a potential buyer. The tour is schedule for tomorrow at 10 am,  she’s even willing to let me walk around and record my thoughts on my own. It’s not technically  for research yet, but given my work has focused on public school architecture in the late 19th century, this could very well be fruitful. At any rate, I’m thankful that my mother’s best friend is  the person handling the sale, or it would have been harder to get access to the building. 

Now to review the local real estate listings and then to make my assessment of the disciplinary  committee cases. [Like she is just realizing something for the first time] I should have asked  Maryann about local real estate when I called her earlier to ask about the school. Oh, well, I  guess we can talk tomorrow. 

Mom picked up the local listing brochure from the post-office. [hesitant, as if scanning a  document]. Not much here. Kind of to be expected from a town this size. Ah, the Carelli place is  up for sale. Pros: It’s a nice house, it’s in town proper, thus close to Mom, Dad, and the coffee  shop. Cons: Reliving the memory of falling down the stairs at Shannon Carelli’s End-of-Junior Year party. Every. Single. Day. 

[paper rustling sounds] 

Hmmm… There are a couple of other houses in here that seem to have promise. I’ll circle them  and talk to MaryAnn tomorrow.  

Hollingsworth University Disciplinary Committee Record Review, Dr. Anna Georgina Plume,  Committee Chair, Reviewing cases for Spring Semester. 

[As if reading] 

Case 2020197: Three members of the Delta Omega Delta fraternity were caught letting six  guinea pigs loose on the first floor of Humanities Building. [To herself, as if commenting, not  entirely under her breath, but along the same lines] I can see how that might be kind of funny,  except for the risk of harm to the animals [interrupting herself, reading] The guinea pigs were in  plastic balls and in no danger from the incident. Most students and faculty appear to have been  amused by the prank, though Professor Lavinia Morgenstern was unamused and demanded some  form of punishment [To herself, again, as above] Okay, I think we can safely assign an essay on  appropriate behavior and move on here.  

[The next few lines are delivered rapidly and half muttered, as if she is flipping through a stack  of papers] 

Campus Parking violation. Campus Parking violation. Overdue library materials. [Spoken more  directly] Is that even in our purview? [As before, thumbing through the list] Parking violation.  Unauthorized Roommate Swap. Parking violation. [More directly] These will all be easy to  address. And what do we have here? 

[Reading]

Case 2020215: Three students caught vandalizing the statue of the university founder during  finals week. Specifically, students dressed the statue in a brightly colored clown wig and  matching costume, complete with a rubber nose and oversized shoes. Professor Morgenstern (of  course) stated on the record [under her breath] oh here we go [reading again] that this incident  made a mockery of the university’s proud traditions and heritage. She demands students face  disciplinary action [Muttered] Have we considered conveniently losing cases she reports?  [spoken more directly] Again, I think an essay is the best course of action here. Honestly, I may  tell them they get bonus points for creativity.  

This concludes disciplinary committee review.  

And now it is time for me to go pick up the pizza.  

Part 5

May 17th, 9:30 pm 

It’s been a nice evening. Pizza Depot retains a lot of its small-town charm. They still appear to be  purchasing surplus pizza boxes from other restaurants in bulk. Today we’ve got Artie’s Pizza in  Covina California, and Pizza Bono in Plattsburgh, New York. I know Dave is just being frugal,  but I find this really charming. 

After dinner, we took a couple slices of pizza to Nana and we stopped for ice cream on the way.  She seems to be adjusting well. The nurses say her hip is healing and she’s doing all of her  exercises without complaint. She also seems to enjoy the activities they offer, and the facility is  beautiful. Between the terrace cafeteria and the aquatic center, I almost asked if I could move in  there myself. That would certainly solve my housing question [dry laugh]

In preparation for my tour of the East Building, I am going to record some field notes on the  building’s history and my own history with the building. That way, if this does turn into  research, I can start here.  

[More formally] 

History of the Ellis East Elementary Building 

The Ellis East Elementary School Building stands at 201 East College Street in Ellis Field, Ohio.  Construction of the school was completed in 1885, as evidenced by the year on the edifice of the  front tower. The building was originally a Normal College to train teachers, but when its founders decided to consolidate with another such school and open a full-fledged university, the  other school had more land to expand to a full college campus, so they gave the Ellis Field  building to the town for use as a public school. From 1907 to 1955, the building served as the  primary and secondary school in Ellis Field, with students in grades 1 through 12 attending. In  the 1955-1956 school year, the school consolidated with three other districts, which made up the  surrounding rural area, to form the Ellis Unified School District. From that point until 1968, the  district ran two elementary schools with grades 1 through 6—and later, kindergarten—in what  were now known as the East and South buildings, the former of which being the building in Ellis  Field and the latter being one of the rural buildings. Students then moved to the North Building  for grades 7 and 8, and then the West Building for high school. This made use of all the  buildings from consolidation. In the summer of 1968, the South building was destroyed in a fire.  Consequently, the district decided that all students would attend kindergarten through third grade  at the East Building, fourth through sixth at the North Building, and 7 through 12 at the West  Building. At this point, the term “West Building” became largely disused, and it was simply  referred to as “the high school.”

In the late 1990s, the North Building needed costly repairs and had become largely inaccessible for students using mobility aids, and so the district decided to build an annex for grades 4-6  attached to the high school. More recently, in 2015, a school levy passed to begin construction  on a new K-12 building, which subsequently opened in 2017. This move was welcome in the  community, as the entire district is now housed in a single building. The old high school had to  be torn down to make room for the new building, but the school district decided to retain the old  East building over the past few years for community activities. Recently the district decided to  list the building for sale as they have largely stopped using the extra space and are concerned  about liability for the building.  

That concludes the building’s history as reconstructed from family and community member  accounts and personal experience. I will verify dates and factual information with local records. 

[As Anna-Georgina delivers the following lines, she drifts between her formal, academic voice and a warm, nostalgic voice]

Personal History with the Ellis East Building 

As for my own history with the building, you might call it a love story. I was, well, a romantic  child, and I loved the feeling of history that enveloped me as I walked the halls of the building.  Perhaps that’s why I studied architectural history and preservation of educational buildings. My  earliest memories of the school come before kindergarten. For a while in the 1980s and 90s, the  local branch of the public library shared facilities with the school library, and as a family of  readers, both Mom and Nana worked at the library. The public library was only open after school  hours, except during the summer, and so when I was in the building, it was empty, the halls were  dark. The floors of the school were polished wood and marble. The library had rich carpet, and a  door connecting to the music room, with an old fashioned keyhole I used to peer through, 

convinced I saw shadows of people in the empty room. On the second floor, the hallway where  most of the classrooms were located had a sloping ramp, raising about six feet from the back half  of the school where library and music room were located.  

I remember exploring the hallways, looking at student artwork, trying to read the names of the  teachers on each door. Although I was alone, I never felt so, but I also never felt afraid. The  whole building had the feel of a still life—no one was there, but you got a profound sense of the  presence of the people whose lives played out in the halls during the school day. Even now,  when I think of the school, I think of it in this way—the building of those library visits.  

All of this has me excited to go back tomorrow. I know it’s been empty for a couple of years,  but MaryAnn said the school has been maintaining it well. I have to meet her at the iron gate at  the front of the building at ten am. More notes on this tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to  sleep. I’m so excited!  

Part 6

[This portion has the same formal, academic tone as the opening scene]

Ellis East Elementary School Walk Through 

May 18th 

Maryann has arrived and opened the gate. Beyond the gate is a tree-lined path to the front door  of the school. Facing the path directly, the playground is to the left of the building. Every  morning for four years, I walked this path, either to go to school, or to spend the summers in the  library with my grandmother. I step onto the path and there is the sense memory, the muscle  memory, the feeling of having returned after so long but also having never been gone. The  feeling of being embraced. Forgive the sentimentality, but in many ways, I feel like I am coming  home. 

The path leads to the front steps of the building, which are gently rounded and get smaller as  they lead up to a recessed portico directly under the front tower of the building. On either side of  the tower, there are two windows on each floor. The edifice of the tower includes brickwork  inscribed with the year 1885. Inside the portico is the main entrance of the building, leading to  the front vestibule.  

End Credits

Lavender Evening Fog is a fiction podcast written by Victoria Dickman-Burnett, directed by Ben  Baird, and produced mixed and edited by Nick Federinko. Executive Producers are Ben Baird  and Victoria Dickman-Burnett and the voice of Anna-Georgina Plume is Victoria Dickman Burnett. The Lavender Evening Fog logo was designed by Alicyn Dickman. This episode is  brought to you by those little moments that have no logical explanation, but you know you didn’t  imagine. This episode pairs well with a blend of genmaicha tea and lavender.  

Lavender Evening Fog condemns white supremacy and the acts of violence that have recently  been perpetuated as a result. We stand with Black Lives Matter and organizations and  individuals doing critical work to fight hate within our communities and the world at large.  

While the town of Ellis Field does not exist in real life, it is based on a community in the Black  Swamp Region of Ohio. Like the rest of the United States, this is colonized land which is the traditional land of the Kickapoo, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Shawnee, and Myaamia peoples.