SBR 1.12: Abracadabra

"'Sam regales Faithful Listeners of his trip to the Hatfield Karpos, and reads a letter from a man in Mumbai about a stranger in a flat cap and shell suit who can only be found if he isn't being looked for...'"

Events of Note

 * Sam visited the Hatfield Karpos, and met Oliver Boleyn
 * When Oliver touched the Rose, it turned to ash

Summary
Sam begins the episode with a poem by Allen Ginsberg, and then regales the listeners of his trip to the Hatfield Karpos, and consequently, meeting Oliver the Florist. They talk about how beautiful the Karpos is, with flowers from the ceiling to floor, then they talk about how beautiful Oliver is. Sam spends quite a lot of time describing how pretty Oliver is.

He moves onto a question from listener Holly West regarding the usage of the Spirit Box Radio Services. Sam recounts what they've learnt from the Little Book of Big Magic. Spirit Boxes work through skipping through radio channels in order to commune with spirits, and are best used for minor arcana or benign spirits.

Sam talks about Oliver's reaction to the Rose, although Sam was too distracted listening to the cadence of his voice to actually hear what Oliver was saying. He speculates on origin of the shop's name, and decides that the Karpos part must be for the beauty of Greek legend.

They then talk about the bloody scraps of cloth that they have been receiving since Madame Marie's disappearance, before stopping themself, citing Anna's possibly worry as reason. Sam explains his lack of memories, how it seems like a void with sparks of light, the light being what he does remember, such as the white door.

Sam moves on to the letter from Mr Prakash in Mumbai, who tells the story of how he married his wife. She was of greater wealth than him, and despite their love, he became convinced that she was going to leave him to marry another man. Mr Prakash was told to find a man who wears a shell suit and a flat cap, being told that 'if you look for him, you will not find him, if you seek him, but do not search, you will find him'. At the end of the summer, he found the strange man, accompanied by a small dog with no eyes and many tails. When he awoke the next morning, Prakash could not remember getting home, not what had happened with the strange man, but he did know that there was a price to pay for the deal made. His girlfriend married another man, but the night of the wedding, he died of what doctors could only assume was a heart attack, though there was no identifiable trauma.

The two spent many happy years together, travelling and had several children. Unfortunately, at the time of writing the letter, Mr Prakash's wife had died the day before. As he writes, the Man in the Flat Cap is there, requesting that Prakash writes the letter to Sam Enfield. Mr Prakash is handed a rose, and his words trail off.

Sam speculates about whether the strange man mentioned in the letter could possibly be related to him, given that the rose sounds similar to his Rose. They mention that, when Oliver the Florist touched the rose, it turned to ash and he crumpled to the ground and stopped breathing for several minutes. After this, he stood up, unchanged save for a small net of scars on his fingertips. Sam took the ashes home, and upon mentioning this, opens the box of ash to find the Rose fully formed again. Sam debates over touching the Rose, but does so despite what it did to Oliver. Their nose starts to bleed and as they are bidding the audience goodnight, there is a loud thud as Sam cuts out midsentence, and the implication that they have fainted.

Characters Featured

 * Sam Enfield
 * Rhytidia Delphus ‘the Bog Witch’ (mentioned)
 * Madame Marie (mentioned)
 * Oliver Boleyn (mentioned)
 * Anna Enfield (mentioned)
 * The Flat Cap Man (mentioned)

Listeners writing in/mentioned:


 * Holly West from Edinburgh, regarding advice on how to use the Spirit Box
 * Karina from Whitby, sending some indecipherable runes and many clean teeth
 * Mr Prakash in Mumbai, regarding the man in the shell suit and flat cap

Trivia

 * Karpos, the character from Greek Mythology that Sam mentions, is the son of Zephyrus and Chloris. He was competing in a swimming contest in the river and drowned. His fellow athlete was grief-stricken, and also allowed himself to drown.