Tactical Cactupi
- The next day, Reynie approaches Mr. C on the plaza. He has his journal and is making notes in it as usual, and Reynie offers him a gift of several ribbon bookmarks.
- Mr. C is annoyed by the interruption, but appreciative of the gesture—and it does make sense for him to use bookmarks instead of damaging his journal by folding down the corners of pages he wants to mark as especially important.
- While Mr. C is flipping through and placing the bookmarks in his journal, Reynie continues to ask him questions and manages to learn that it's not the bridge Mr. C is always staring at, it's the turbines, which he considers to be one of his greatest inventions.
- Mr. C dismisses Reynie, and we finally figure out what the bookmark business was all about.
- While Mr. C was flipping through his journal, Sticky was standing on Kate's back behind a cactus, reading the journal through Kate's telescope while Constance acted as a lookout further up the hill.
- Sticky says he managed to get a little of the information in the journal (remember: he remembers everything he reads, and he reads really fast), but not a ton since Mr. C was flipping through pretty quickly.
- Reynie, Sticky, and Kate notice that Constance is flailing her arms and see Jackson coming down the path.
- He demands to know what they were doing (to which they reply, "trying to make a human pyramid"), and then orders Kate to give him her telescope.
- She does, and Jackson—who clearly became an Executive for his ability to follow orders, not necessarily for his intelligence—laughs at her pathetic kaleidoscope and tosses it back to her. Phew.
- Sticky replicates as much of the journal as he can, and the kids learn that in addition to using the powerful emotion of fear to gain control of people, Mr. Curtain has indeed been "brainsweeping" people.
- It seems that when people present trouble, he erases their memories and "retrains" them so they aren't so mournful. Unfortunately, though it counteracts some of the sadness, retraining tends to cause "timidity, anxiety, and self-doubt" (21.73). Ah, the poor Helpers. And poor Milligan—although at least he got away before he was retrained, which explains why he can't remember anything and feels sad but isn't scared or timid.
- The journal entries confirm the kids' thoughts about Charlie and the new recruits having had some of their memories—but not all of them—erased, and the kids also learn that Mr. Curtain believes the Improvement "is very close at hand" (21.94).
- He's apparently completed all the necessary facilities and has to just make a few more shipments and some final adjustments to the turbines.
- Sticky's notes leave off with the ominous, "The Whisperer is now capable of—"(21.105). He wasn't able to get the end of the sentence because Mr. Curtain's hand was in the way.
- They're not sure what the Whisperer might be capable of now, but if it makes Mr. C happy, they're pretty sure it's bad news.