Rocking across the lapis lazuli sea comes a flock of bottle battleships each with a telegram addressed to me. ‘Destroy your mirror and avoid mishaps,’ chirps the first; ‘live on a silent island where the water blots out all footsteps.’ The second sings: ‘Receive no roving gallant who seeks to dally in the port till dawn, for your fate involves a dark assailant.’ The third cries out as all the ships go down: ‘There is more than one good way to drown.’
