the secret integration's whole sick crew

[Abdiel OAbdiel]

What is Carl doing in this crew? 
At first it seems that Carl is a boy like the others. 
He is black, but he he likes practical jokes and he
hangs around with Tim, Grover, 80N. As noted, it is
not apparent at first that Carl is an imaginary
friend. It's only later on that we are told this is in
fact the case. Of course, looking back we can see the
clues. This is one of the wonderful things ag\bout
this tale. 
But why do the boys imagine Carl? How do they share in
this imagined idea of a boy? 

When the kids sleep over Grover's they dream. Grover
sits up late at night (perhaps all night) and listens
in on his radio. The others (Tim and 80N) listen too.
When Tim and 80N fall asleep their dreams are mixed
with the radio stuff. This stuff comes in or doesn't
because of something in the atmosphere (very Mondaugan
like). In any event, the boys have different
impressions and memories. Tim remembers hearing things
that Grover says were not transmitted and 80N
remembers other stuff. Each imagination is
independent. Dreams are still private or at least half
private (a major theme of both V. and GR is the loss
of dream privacy) since Grover, who never seems to
sleep, is always listening in. Grover bugs his
parent's bed room too. hmmmm. More importantly, it
seems that Grover controls the "mutually" imagined
intergration or Carl. 

  

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