ATDTDA (14): It came to pass, 394-396

[Paul Nightingale]

Back to Frank being excluded by language, a denial here of storytelling: “

none of them were about to share the reason with Frank”. Previously Estrella
had been ready to explain the history of the desert (393), decoding it so to
speak, another way of saying ‘translation’.

Moreover, she now finds him “disgusting, with all that hair growing out of
your face, and you always smell like coffee”. So Frank is here distanced,
put in his place as a Shabotshi. Cf. earlier references to naming (390) and
seeing (392). And flying (“taken out of himself 
” etc) has been no more
than a brief excursion. A wake-up call for the dreamer? Hence, “he was never
to have the same certitude again as he had felt flying with
Estrella/Estella” (394). Cf. her riposte (“happy it wasn’t you”) to Wren’s
sign-off on 280: “technically she was smiling, though it didn’t quite get as
far as her eyes”.

And on hikuli: “in days to come, he would take it out for a nibble 
” etc
(394). Cf. Lew’s “Shameful Habit” (182ff), in particular: “
 covertly
nibbled at his dwindling Cyclomite supply” (187) when travelling with the
two Ns. Frank’s surroundings are transformed, indeed he comes to question
the very nature of his being: “What was there to do out here but run and
pursue 
” etc, perhaps “keep slowing down until entering some mineral
condition” (395). Neither animal nor vegetable, then; another example,
perhaps, of “experiences he ha[s] been unable to find any use for” (393).

Sloat’s end follows a lengthy digression on the décor, “no Budweiser Little
Big Horn panoramas here 
” etc. Unlike the earlier dream, this might well be
something he does remember. The location (“the daylit single street of a
little pueblo whose name he would soon forget”) sounds nondescript; yet
juxtaposed to this is the detailed account, in parenthesis, of “some
crumbling mural of the ancient Aztec foundation story”, perhaps one
comparable to the story told by Estella. Frank is again reactive: “
 time
only to find his own [pistol] and begin firing cold, no chance to rouse up
any of those family emotions”. Earlier, the effect of hikuli was established
thus: “It didn’t kick in for a while, but when it did, Frank was taken out
of himself 
” etc, including “his country and family” (392). The focus on
the mural might also be put down to the effects of hikuli.

He can’t even be sure that Sloat has recognised him, which would count as
irony, I suppose, given the way recognition has panned out thus far (the
current passage ending with “everybody would recognise Frank”).