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77 “Have you shown the journal to anyone else?” I asked her. “Your
parents surely.”
78 I saw her nostrils narrow as she sucked in an angry breath. “They’re
embarrassed by the whole business. Mother always thought he was odd.
The traveling, the balloons. Just silly. They always thought he was a bit
of a nutter. Hallucinations, that’s what they said. ‘Let’s just forget the
whole thing.’ That’s why I had to send the letter to the Zoological
Society myself!”

79 I blinked.
80 “I couldn’t let my parents stop this from getting out to the world!
This is a major discovery—a new animal! I wrote them a letter

describing more or less what my grandfather saw and asked them if
they’d care to see a facsimile of his journal.”
81 “Did they reply?”
82 “Oh, yes.”
83 From her handbag she produced a letter. It was folded square, the
creases so worn you could tell she’d folded and unfolded it many times. I
could imagine her face when she read it, getting mad all over again. It
wasn’t a long letter, and I read it quickly:

84 Dear Miss de Vries,
85 Thank you for your letter. We appreciate your taking
the time to tell us about your grandfather’s observations on
his balloon voyage, namely the sighting of “some kind of
winged mammal.”

86 We feel strongly that should such a creature exist it
would surely have been sighted and documented long ago.
Every year there are hundreds of unsubstantiated sightings
of monstrous creatures in land, air, and sea and we feel it
is our duty as men of science to gently remind you that your

grandfather was not trained, and in his state of health, he may
have suffered additional deficiencies of observation.

deficiencies If someone has deficiencies, he or she has weaknesses or flaws.

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