ATDTDA (14): Back on the Other Side, 376-383

[Paul Nightingale]

The arrival in town recalls Frank's arrival in Telluride (the
expressionistic "soulless incandescence" section on 281-282): here, Frank
and Ewball are approached as tourists, identified in the first instance as
"northamericans" (376) with lighting replaced by smells and sounds. Power
relations are sketched economically with ". all of whom they were able to
refuse with a politely wagging finger": this is not a question of
disposition but of status, personal interactions defined in and by context.

Frank's aimless wandering, this time with Ewball attendant, leads to his
arrest (378); this in turn leads to the meeting with Dwayne Provecho (379),
who insists that Frank is the Kid (382). So his wandering might be aimless
in intent, it nonetheless refuses to allow him to escape his history: the
dream-Deuce taunting him with his lack of purpose (377), just as earlier
Webb's ghost had haunted him (316). The reader is made aware that Frank has
told Ewball of Deuce, immediately before the arrest. The dream-location made
real ("an actual counterpart somewhere in this daylit city", perhaps a kind
of wish fulfilment) that seems to have something to do with Deuce, and
promises the realisation of a goal, leads therefore to another false ending.
Frank is imprisoned, but the location confounds (genre) expectations: ".
this Mexican hoosegow would turn out to be not nearly the hellhole of
bordertown legend" (cf. the "dime novel of Old Mexico", 374) and, indeed,
"just a dream" (379), "a parade of subterranean attractions" (380).

And then, within the dream-of-sorts, the "dream of voyaging by air" (381):
note that Frank's attention to fixed on the mechanics of the flight ("a
conveyance whose actual working principles were mysterious to him"), an
attempt to anchor the experience is reality. This is reminiscent of our
introduction to the young Frank, "more curious in a kid-engineer kind of
way" and seeking "a general rule" (90). Frank is a character we associate
with aimless wandering, the need for others to show him the way: perhaps his
experiences throughout are designed to challenge his 'faith' in rational
explanation (or "general rule[s]").

The dream resists such explanation, but Sergeant Vasquez appears in its
place with a handsome breakfast and a lot of explanation regarding Dwayne:
she has a lot to say for herself, in contrast to the rurales who initially
arrested Frank and Ewball back on 377; and she spends a lot of time with
Frank (eg, ".as she was in the habit of whispering when they were alone").
Discussing Amparo, Ewball asks Frank if he "ever ran into [a woman] that no
money changed hands" (380); and the reader might think of Wren (like Amparo,
she likes to maintain a little distance despite intimacy).

Amparo informs them that their incarceration is due to "something one of you
did a long time ago, back on the Other Side" (381), from which we can infer
that the Law in question doesn't respect boundaries. There is, however, no
indication which of them is allegedly 'guilty'; and Frank ("the wrong
cowboy") has already insisted that he must be innocent of whatever political
crime the authorities have in mind (378). Amparo warns them to keep their
distance from Dwayne, who will it transpires insist that Frank is the
Kieselguhr Kid: if the mythical Kid stands in for the destiny that has
trapped Frank, he is also the means of Frank's 'liberation' here. Dwayne
apparently thinks Frank looks like photos of the Kid, which recalls both the
association of Webb with the role and also Frank's resemblance to his father
(and hence the destiny that he can't escape). Dwayne refers to Telluride,
specifically Ellmore and Bob; Frank's resemblance to Webb is evidenced by
the photo that Merle produces on 299. Of course, we might also recall that
Frank is supposed to be in disguise as an itinerant musician (314-315).