Decoding

Ian tries to decipher the code.

I found an old phone book in the house and I called a lot of people but none of them knew where Gabe was. They all gave me my own address where he used to live. I found his library card and went to the library and asked for his checkout history but they said they weren't allowed to give it to me and it was confidential.

I had to wonder why he left so much behind when he moved. He left books, journals, letters, documents, poems, a typewriter, furniture, clothes, an address book, photographs, library card, and even a box under his bed that had the name "Eleanor" carved into it. (The box was locked with a padlock so I couldn't get into it.) He must have left in a hurry. What drove him out? And why did he take the time to cut the faces out of the pictures?

When I got home from the library, I went back over the writing again and highlighted the words that I thought were code. I wrote them all down and tried to define them.

Maniacal Song = the club
Bestselling carpenters = ?
Underneath the same umbrella = in the same situation?
Fourteen o'clock = 2 pm
Caterpillar = Eleanor
Chrysalis = ?
Pirate = Gabe
Double-Dutch = Jack
Insect = Toby
Hammer = Frank
Burglar = Tommy
Infested = dead?
Infestation = death?
Shell = ?
Broken = ?
Break the statue = let people know about the club?
Keep = stick together?
How the weather is = how each other feels?
Listening = meeting
Singer = club member/friend
Favorite singer = best friends
Using = dating
Capture = kiss?
Collect = ?
Dry up = ?
Sun = ?
Read = go out?
Wagon = ?
Chapter = date?
Eat = ?
Go on wheels = ?
Borrow it from me = cover for me?
The game = the wedding?
Play/sing = talk?
Mosquitos = ?
Tuesday = time?
Radio = treehouse?
Antenna = banner?
Flower = ?
Butterfly = boyfriend?
Beats = minutes?
Spanish = code
Buzzing = ?
Poking = teasing?
Sting = ?
Erase the markings = ?
Shedding = ?
Spinning = ?
Crawl = ?
Buried = ?
Hole = school?
Spit = had a baby?
Pink = girl?
Blue = boy?
Vertigo = nightmares/flashbacks?
Spider = baby?
On back of bird = ?
Sitting on a rose = ?
Swim = ?
Sound = ?
Harmony = ?
Soft place = kind person?
Slow = ?

I also noted that Gabe sometimes wrote certain words or phrases in red ink, like the "infested" that was written on my wall, but used black ink or pencil for the rest of the page. I wondered if red ink was just for emphasis or if it gave the words an entirely different meaning.

I read over all the coded writing again and wrote down a summary of the writing. I also was able to make a better guess at the letters' order.

They decided Eleanor couldn't come on Wednesdays and she showed up one day seemingly out of the blue and wouldn't leave. Then Gabe told her everyone thought she was pretty and they ended up hooking up behind Frank's back. He told Tommy about it and he suggested that Gabe teach Eleanor the code, so he did. Frank found out, they fought, and the club ended. None of this was new information.

But what Tommy and Jack didn't tell me was that the club reunited not too long after that. Some boy who was large and not too bright started following them to the treehouse and threatened to give away the secret of the club. So after consulting Tommy, Gabe decided to let him into the club. Nobody in the club really accepted him and considered him a real club member though. They picked on him and looked down on him, and he seemingly didn't realize what they were doing. Eleanor felt bad for him and tried to be nice to him where everyone else was mean.

One day they were teasing him about Eleanor, probably about him liking her. He got into a fight with Gabe and Jack told him Eleanor would do something if he stopped hurting Gabe. Maybe be his girlfriend? So he agreed and so did Eleanor, but then Toby did something to Eleanor; I'm still not sure what. So they killed or hurt him? I don't know if it was intentional or not.

Everyone was haunted by what happened and stopped talking. Eleanor eventually got better, married Gabe and had a baby girl. Tommy saw Gabe for the last time at his wedding. Jack never talked to Gabe after that. Frank resented him and blamed him for whatever happened to Eleanor.

I wanted to find Gabe so I could ask him about it, but I didn't know where he could be or how to find him. I wanted to get into that box too. I had no idea if he'd left the key or not. But I was determined to find out what happened to Eleanor and what happened to Toby. I tried to imagine who I could go to that would be the most honest with their answers.

I wanted to know why Gabe had left in such a hurry so many years later. He had only lived in this house for five years, so why did he write behind the wallpaper? Why bring it up again at all? If he didn't want anybody to find out, then why leave the pictures? He leaves the pictures and takes the faces. He leaves the box and takes the key. He leaves the piano books and bench but takes the piano. He left so much and took so little, but it all seemed very deliberate. There had to have been a reason for what he chose to take with him.