Olivetti

Ernest believes that he is seeing things or that the typewriter’s actions might be someone’s prank. He studies the typewriter but does not know what he is searching for. The typewriter types out another message, insisting that he can help Ernest.

Olivetti reflects that his decision to reveal Beatrice’s stored words is justified because this is an emergency. He can only reveal previous typed missives in reverse order—from most recent to least recent. Olivetti instructs Ernest to listen patiently and then types out Ernest’s message to Beatrice from a few moments ago to demonstrate that his attempts to recover Beatrice’s past writings will work. Olivetti follows Ernest’s message with Beatrice’s last words before the laptop arrived: “I don’t know what to do” (66). Suddenly, Ernest hears a noise, so he grabs Olivetti and runs from the store.

Ernest carries Olivetti back to his apartment and up to the roof. Hiding behind the air-conditioning unit, he settles in to focus on what Olivetti wants to say, but his father interrupts, so Ernest leaves the typewriter in the hiding place. Felix tells Ernest again that the family must return to work and school; he reminds Ernest that following a normal routine was the only way the family withstood “the Everything That Happened” (71).