The Book of Form and Emptiness

Aikon and her assistant, Kimi, continue to read Annabelle’s emails. They consider whether Benny might not be interacting with the "unquiet” spirit of objects, a Japanese concept called tsukumogami. Aikon remains undecided as to whether they should answer the emails. They continue to include Annabelle and Benny in their daily prayers.

On the day of the election, Benny wakes up with an unexpected fever. He stays home from school, resting in bed. His illness becomes worse as the afternoon progresses and the election results start coming in with an increased sense of panic “like someone was tightening the strings” (431) of their society. Benny plugs Kenji’s old headphones into a speaker and drowns out the impressions of panic and unease in the voices he hears. He listens to Kenji’s jazz records while longing to speak with Alice again. He falls asleep, then is woken up later when Annabelle comes to check on him. The election is over. Annabelle is shocked and depressed at the results; she has to work through the night monitoring the news.

Benny wakes early the next morning, sensing “a new tension in the air, as if the air itself were agitated […] It was coming from the world” (432). He perceives the societal, racial, and economic distress over the election results. He finds Annabelle asleep in the living room and, after folding a pile of unmatched socks for her, sneaks out of the house.

Benny walks down the alley to the park, where he finds a large demonstration protesting the election results. People carry guns and weapons against police, who use tear gas indiscriminately. Benny is taken in by the crowd and handed a baseball bat by the man that once hit him over the head. The crowd, with Benny in it, startswalking towards the city center.

The Book expresses pain at having to narrate these events, wishing it “might undo your plot” (435) and keep Benny from becoming involved in the violence.

When Annabelle wakes up that afternoon, she notices the clothes that Benny folded and is touched by his thoughtfulness. She begins making lunch for them. However, when she discovers his bedroom is empty, Annabelle calls the school and Dr. Melanie looks for him. She tries to remain calm but finds it impossible with the police helicopters and civil unrest outside.

Benny is carried along with the crowd as protests converge in the city. Though he marches, he doesn’t have a clear motivation for doing so. He watches as others break into stores and shops, then mimics their behavior by using his bat to smash the window of a storefront. He is compelled by the voice of the bat, which wants to hit, and the crowd’s intense emotion. However, after doing so, Benny can’t help but apologize to the glass he shattered. The police start throwing cannisters of tear gas in Benny’s area just as Alice appears wearing a gas mask. She pours liquid over his eyes to help cool them from the gas, then urges Benny to get to the library. She herself is grabbed by the cops and dragged away.

Annabelle watches the news as people in cities all over the country protest the election results. To calm herself, Annabelle writes an email to Aikon in which she describes the nature of this civil unrest. She asks about the political and social climate in Japan and whether it is similar to the United States. She wishes she had a better plan of finding Benny other than filing a missing persons report. Annabelle shifts to describing the last interaction she had with Kenji. Just before he left for a show, they had fought over his marijuana use. When he left, she threw a pink teapot at the door after him, smashing it.

After sending the email, Annabelle goes into the kitchen and finds a new poem on the fridge that says: “moon mother be cool” (444). Pinned to the fridge next to the poem is the librarian Cory’s business card.

Benny manages to sneak into the library. He hides in his carrel until after closing, then goes down to the Bindery.

Annabelle calls Cory as Cory is closing up the library. She leaves a voicemail explaining that Benny is missing and might show up in the library. Cory leaves the library but cannot stop thinking about Annabelle. At two in the morning, Cory calls the library’s security guard, Jevaun, and asks him to double-check all the security monitors and patrol the library in case Benny is there. Jevaun calls back to report that he’s found Benny in the Bindery; Benny is sitting on top of the paper cutter, naked, and smiling and talking to himself. Cory begs Jevaun to wait before calling the police, then takes an Uber to the library.

Cory enters the Bindery cautiously. Benny is singing a round by himself and is unresponsive to Cory’s words. When she listens closer, Cory can just make out an echo to Benny’s words, as if a voice is singing with him.

Jevaun returns with the police, who gently escort Benny out of the Bindery. He tries to explain that he took his clothes off because they smelled of tear gas and milk. The Book digresses from Benny’s story to explain that it was singing the round with Benny. That night marks the union between Benny and the Book when they begin composing his story together. The Book shows Benny an “Unbound” state, where Benny can become a point through which all experience and stories flow. The Book gives Benny access to the Unbound world because it wants to experience embodiment through Benny’s story.