Chapter One, Edited by RUFUS GUTZ

POLICE DEPARTMENT
VERBATIM EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF INCIDENT IN MARSH CEMETERY

Date of incident: ** ******** ****

The witness, a 48-year-old man, C****** D******, reported the following:
"In the afternoon towards evening, I was walking to the village of ************* and was passing the church of *********, approximately one mile distant. Near the far side of the churchyard I noticed a boy [later identified by Police investigation as P***** P*****] standing gazing at a gravestone. I was about to continue on my way, when a man [later identified by Police investigation as ****** M******] started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. Fearing for the boy's safety I hid behind the low stone wall that surrounds the churchyard and observed them. They were out of earshot. The man was dressed all in grey, and seemed to have something heavy attached to one leg. He wore no hat, had broken shoes, and had some cloth tied round his head. The man seized the boy by the chin. The boy pointed towards the village. The man turned the boy upside down and withdrew from the boy's pockets a shapeless object smaller than hand-size. The man righted the boy, placed him on a tombstone, and ate whatever had been in the boy's pocket. He then licked his lips and shook his head in a threatening way. Soon after, the man started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder. He then returned to the boy, and after a few moments looked down at his leg. He looked back and forth between his leg and the boy several times, and then went closer to the boy's tombstone. The man immediately took the boy by both arms, and tilted him back as far as he could hold him; so that his eyes looked down into the boy's, and the boy's looked up into his. The man then tilted the boy over a little more six times, and the boy clung to the man with both hands. The man gave the boy a tremendous dip and roll, and then held the boy by the arms in an upright position on the top of the stone. After some time the man took the boy down from the stone. The man glanced around. At the same time, he hugged his body in both his arms and then limped towards the low stone wall. He picked his way among the nettles, and among the brambles that bound the green mounds. When he came to the low church wall, he got over it with some difficulty, and then turned round to look at the boy. Immediately the boy turned and ran towards the village. The man continued towards the river, still hugging himself in both arms, picking his way among the stepping-stones in the marshes. The boy stopped once and looked back, and then ran on without stopping."

NOTES
Investigation revealed that what the witness had observed was an improvised 'new dance' performance entitled 'Chapter One' by the 'XpectatioNZ' dance collective, of which P***** and M******* are members. Posters for this performance were discovered at various locations around **********, but it seems that there was no audience to the performance save the unwitting D******. Recommend to superintendent no further action be taken.

Signed:

Date: