13 Little Blue Envelopes

In her third letter, Aunt Peg instructs Ginny to withdraw £500 from her bank account and then find an artist in London whose art she wants to support with an anonymous donation. Peg calls the task “mysterious benefactor day” (51).

The next morning, Ginny asks Richard for advice on finding an artist to give money to. Richard suggests that they look in a local magazine for information about art shows or events. They find a few that are in Richard’s neighborhood, so he offers to accompany Ginny to check them out.

The first place they stop is a cafe with paintings displayed. Ginny is unimpressed by the paintings, which all depict someone named Sheila. Next, they see the work of an installation artist whom Ginny dubs “The Half Guy” because he cuts items in half and then displays them (55). After this uninspiring start, Ginny decides that she’d like to find some street performers. Richard advises her to go to Covent Garden in downtown London.

The plaza at Covent Garden is full of street performers. She contemplates dropping the £500 into one of their collection plates and being done with the task, but that would not be in the spirit of what Peg wanted her to do.