Anagrams with Es

"One of who?"

Actually you're not quite sure what the whole thing is all about now. "One of the Black Void people!"

Mother frowns. "No dear, he is not with the amusement park. He's a psyc... a doctor."

"His name is an anagram!" you blurt out.

"Anna who now?" Great. Your own mother doesn't know what an anagram is! You start wondering (not for the first time) if you may have been adopted.

Too impatient to try to explain something that appears as naturally to you as breathing, you look for a way to show what you mean. Right in front of you (funny that you didn't notice earlier) is a sign with the "Doctor's" name on it. David Hiltbock. No title. You notice that rather than a specially engraved sign, this is the kind that anyone can build by sliding letter tiles into a rack and locking them in place. A bit like Scrabble without the points. You remember the fun you used to have rearranging old signs like that, which may have contributed to your knack for word play. And it's just what you need.

Rather than waste time figuring out the locking mechanism, you just grab the sign and slam it against the desk until the end piece comes off and the tiles spill out on the desk top.

"Carol!" your mother exclaims. "What are you do..."

Dr. Hiltbock makes an arresting gesture that seems to be directed at your mother rather than you. "Let her do this," he says quietly. "She needs to see it."

What is he talking about? you think as you quickly pick out the B, L, A, C and K and arrange them in a line. It's Mother who needs to see! Trying to trap me with words, Doc? You get V, O, I and D in place...

Then you stop. Something is wrong. You have too many letters, and there is no E.

"Close, but no cigar," the doctor gloats. "It's fascinating what you can get out of a jumble of letters, particularly if you ignore the ones that don't fit. I had an uncle who could make the name Blackbeard from some of the letters in his name. We found it quite amusing at the time. Of course nobody really thought he was a pirate. He didn't even have a beard, and if he had, it would have been red."

1. You see the error (Dave, not David) and correct it.
2. Blinded by you apparent failure, you keep shuffling the tiles until you burst into tears.
3. You challenge Doc's story by asking his uncle's name.
4. The phone rings.
5. A Black Void appears in the room.
6. Mother laughs hysterically at the thought of Uncle Hiltbock being a pirate.

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