Moments of Clarity, Ambiguity

Maybe it's the fact we've been doing this for years and all our research is taking its toll. Maybe it’s the expectation of trying to top ourselves year after year. Do we subconsciously associate mundane items and events thrown at us by life, misconstrue them, and then try to find some veiled Bellairsian reference or influence? 

Maybe we need a rest.

We say this because we were watching the Simpsons here in the office, specifically the 1997 episode "In Marge We Trust," and Reverend Lovejoy walks into the sanctuary and soon is in the middle of a vision, conversing with the spirits of the saintly figures shown in the stained glass. While saint Donickus, Bartholomew, Eleutherius of Nicomedia, and Lucian sound like the sort of names that Bellairs himself might have gotten a kick out of, it isn't until later we realize something.

Again, maybe it’s the fact we've read The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost one too many times and that we think Edward Gorey's artwork for the original release is one of his best contributions to the Bellairs series. But it dawned on us that the Lovejoy talking to the four figures in the stained glass reminded us of the three figures Johnny Dixon sees in the stained glass windows, as shown in the aforementioned book.

Is there any sort of connection? Hardly.  Is this a nod to the book? We doubt it - plus, Bellairs himself was paying homage to the M.R. James story, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.

Maybe we need a rest.