It's been not quite a year since the mysterious package arrived in the mail, postmarked Atlanta and addressed to me here at the Strib. Inside was a strip of paper with a quote, a clue written in the form of haiku, the wish that I follow my Narrative Urge, and $10 to make sure that I paid attention.
I would have paid attention even without the $10. I love mysteries, and a literary mystery? The best kind.
There were tons of fascinating red herrings, and it took several days of concentration and Web searching for me to solve at least a portion of it--that my envelope was one of about 100 sent out or hidden around Atlanta, and that it was part of a literary scavanger hunt called "10 Stories High." I found their secret Website (now defunct), and I found their Facebook page, and then as far as I could tell everything sort of stalled out.
From time to time Narrative Urge sent out more envelopes, and from time to time she (I think it's a she) posted on Facebook, wondering where the "Lost Boys" might be. (Lost Boys being envelopes that had been hidden around Atlanta for anyone to find.)
Then, earlier this month, a flurry of activity--more envelopes sent, more Lost Boys found, and, then, ta da! All 100 envelopes accounted for.
And now, today, another envelope. I recognized the handwriting immediately when I pulled it out of my mailslot.
No money this time (I had donated my $10 bill months ago to a street musician on the Nicollet Mall), but an answer to the mystery: A short story, called "Hydra," made up primarily of snippets of writing (including the one sent to me).
The snippets were from all over, though primarily from Atlanta writers--Natasha Trethewey, and Tayari Jones, and Jessica Handler, and Randy Osborne, and on and on and on.
