by Andy Ritchie
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Post-It Note 3
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Diary Entry 17
[Collator’s Note: This extract from the Manchester Evening News web-site was also amongst the piles of paper which JP gave to me. I wasn’t sure whether to place it here in the diary as I’m sure it is chronologically out of order. However, it’s probably as good a place as any.]
[Collator’s Note: The part of this obituary that refers to a ‘car accident’ has been vigorously circled by JP in red pen at least ten times. Beside it JP has written the words ‘Is that the best THEY could do? Unimaginative Bastards!’Underneath the print-out of the obituary was a short hand-written note from JP which I have repeated below. Also, there was also a further hand-written note from JP stapled to the original print-out.]
There were two reasons why I made the effort to find Sandford’s obituary.
Firstly, to see what explanation, if any, was given for the way he died — as expected, it’s a load of bollocks.
Secondly, to see if, by reading of the sadness and grief being endured by Sandford’s family, it would somehow stimulate in me the feelings of guilt and sorrow that were so noticeably lacking in the days after his death and which, surely, would be appropriate.
It didn’t.
In fact, if anything, it has simply re-inforced those conclusions about THEM which I reached on Wednesday night in the camper van in that layby off the A93!
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Diary Entry 18
[Collator’s Note: This is the further hand-written note that was stapled to the original print-out and note. I suspect it was written by JP quite recently, certainly after he had made the decision to get this diary into print. It was addressed as a note to me.]
Andy,
I’ve realised that, if you do manage to get this published, then there is a good chance that it may be read by the Sandford family and that, as a result of that, they will learn the truth about their son.
I guess it may come as a shock to them to find out that their son was killed, not in a car crash as they had been told by THEM, but in a fight with an alien whom he was holding prisoner at a secret interrogation centre.
It may also come as a shock to them to find out that their son worked for an organisation that routinely tortured innocent people and that their son was actively involved in this.
Now, it’s up to you, but you may want to consider changing the names of those involved to protect the innoc
[Collator’s Note: This last sentence, which finishes so abruptly, has actually been scored out a number of times on the note. Underneath it is written:]
Wait a minute.
What am I thinking??
Protect the innocent!?!
Fuck that!!!
I did think that we should perhaps spare Sandford’s parents from the reality of what their ‘beloved’ son had really been doing with his life, but why the fuck should we do that?
This is how it is.
I don’t care how much money he raised for charity. I don’t care how much he loved his wife and children. I don’t care how nice he was at home, or down the pub, or wherever.
He was one of THEM.
HE WAS ONE OF THEM!!
So, Andy, just ignore this note and print exactly what’s in the diary.
Let the world and his family know the truth about Robert Sandford...and I hope he rots in hell!
[Collator's Note: As per JP’s instructions, I’ve not made any changes to either the note on the obituary, or the later note that was stapled to it. I have to admit that I was in two minds as to whether to include this second sheet. Personally, I don’t like it. It may encourage people who are reading this diary to conclude that JP was terribly hard and unfeeling, unable and unwilling to sympathise or empathise with the family of Robert Sandford and the grief and sorrow they must feel at the loss of their loved one.
I believe it would be wrong to paint such a portrait of JP, not least because there is so much more which he learnt and experienced about THEM in the time between Sandford’s death and the day he wrote this note.
Perhaps, only after you have read the rest of this diary, and are then armed with all the facts, can you truly be in a position to decide whether JP’s hatred of THEM (including their minions) and his subsequent lack of compassion for the families of those who work for THEM, is justified or not.]
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Diary Entry 19
[Collator’s Note: This is an extract from the ‘Justification’ section of a document called the ‘Fatal Interaction with Indigenous Life-Form Report’ (using template FIIL v62), a copy of which JP provided. According to JP, it is a requirement of section 1688 of the First Contact Protocol for such a report to be completed.I’m not sure how JP got a hold of a copy of this — there is no reference anywhere else in the diary to the death of Sandford being discussed with Tukaal, or to the need for Tukaal to make a report on the fact that he had killed somebody.]
[Collator’s Note: Does this give us an indication of what Tukaal really felt about the death of Robert Sandford? I don’t know, and there are no hand-written comments from JP to provide us with any further insight.
On the one hand, you could conclude that it reveals a cold, detached disinterest in the death of a human, and an inability to appreciate how such a death can shatter the lives of family and friends. If that is indeed the way Tukaal regards the death of Robert Sandford, then it is a damning indictment of his lack of interest in, and understanding of, mankind.
On the other hand, however, you could conclude that this is a report that has, by necessity, been written in a very specific manner, using very precise terminology and tone. After all, this report is destined to enter the bizarre bureaucracy that is the Confederation and, as such, does it not make sense for it to be written in a manner which will ensure, as much as possible, a unhindered passage through the bureaucratic machinery. After all, who knows how many other procedures will kick in if the death of an indigenous life-form was deemed to have been unjustified.
If you can believe the latter, then perhaps you can also believe that Tukaal really regarded Robert Sandford’s death as something far more than simply ‘regrettable’.
Your choice.]
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[Collator's Note: Jethro's efforts to discover the truth and continue to evade the clutches of Mendelssohn, are chronicled in Part 2 of 'The Book That THEY Do Not Want You To Read'.]