what if we were to trace this letter through the mail system and interview each person that relays it, Hermes transferring our particles of skin to mingle with those of each postal worker that touches it; do we seep into their fingers, do we take each other home, should they wear protective gloves? multiplicity of information: Hermes as fertility god message encryption: Hermes as trickster stealing Apollo's cattle and obscuring the trail by making the herd walk backward next