Lamentably the smile did not last. Upon her return to school in the following week, both Naomi and a school-franked envelope journeyed from school to home, each bearing the malevolent autograph of Demaio's vindictive sword. Naomi's fourth schoolbook commenced the onslaught with the bluntest of remarks: "What are you doing????" (SSB.4-26). The letter followed bearing a plea for knowledge to explain the antecedents of Naomi's "unresponsive" attitude and also detailing several detentions set forth for the young artist's "benefit". To imagine the poor girl's head spinning at such unwarranted vitriol. And how did she respond? So much better and more composed than if I'd have found myself in her divine size fours.
Each of the papers sent home by the over-zealous teacher is appropriated by Naomi as an Extraneous Drawing support for a pained rendering of her condition. The two detention slips (as well as sundry envelopes of commiseration) serve as a backdrop to a series of images that painfully recall in reverse, momentary glimpses of her father's body (ED.42-47). Commencing with the medical procedures that first signalled the deterioration of his condition and concluding with scenes detailing his lifeless body dragged from the icy water of Ehrilch's Pond and the subsequent endeavours at resuscitation, the sequence recalls a flaccid hand, a pair of disembodied legs and the ubiquitous sickbay dioramas.
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