# Ardis Wolf and the Poppins Asphodel *The Urth list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 08 May 2002* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Spectacled Bear *08 May 2002, 16:28* > At 05:34 2002-05-07, Robert Borski wrote: > I would therefore like to suggest something else to you. Is it possible that > what Nadan actually notices by the ignited arrack is the burn caused by his > own laser pistol and that Ardis Dahl is the werebeast he attempts, but > fails, to kill on the night of the first egg? This is a great theory. I notice that Ardis switches off the light in a hurry just as Nadan is about to undo her laces, which fits nicely. On a more literary note, this is the Peri's Asphodel again! On first reading the story I assumed this "literary device" was fictional, but it's actually the plot where someone has a fantastic or unreal experience which they conclude must surely be a dream - until some tiny piece of evidence shows it was real. It took me ages to recall where I had seen this most often: it is used in almost all the Mary Poppins stories. In keeping with the theme of Mr Borski's post "Black Easter", the use of the device this story is a dark inverse of the norm: it is not a wonderful dream but a monstrous nightmare that is revealed to be true. Feeling almost learned, Spectacled Bear. ---