ATDTDA (11): Another Lake, 307-312

[Paul Nightingale]

Bottom of the page, Merle changes the subject abruptly, bringing up the
tommyknockers. Doc Turnstone wants "a rational explanation" (308), which
aligns him with Frank when meeting Dally: "At first he thought she was one
of those supernatural mine creatures ." until "commonsense" kicks in (298).
However, an ironic juxtaposition follows: "In a spirit of scientific
inquiry, the Doc had abstained from his usual evening laudanum ..." (308).

When they meet, Doc says he used to have a thing for Lake (309), something
else that comes as news to Frank. Following the passage used for the
catalogue extract, Doc's backstory continues with his introduction to Lake
(311). This appears to come just before her relationship with Deuce, but the
image we have of her here ("in simple gray and white, her hair covered and
her demeanor professional") is at odds with scenes in the Nonpareil (261ff).

The implication now, the story told from Doc's pov, is that she might have
gone to Deuce to escape his close attentions (311). The narrative has just
given us Doc's desire, coming west, to "[marry] a presentable girl with a
college background", so further down the same page the implication, in the
first instance, is that he has a somewhat starry-eyed view of Lake, one she
perhaps has decided to wreck. However, over the page, we're told "she was
all his plans flying out the window, a chance to 'choose wrong' early enough
in life to do him some good" (312). And: "If she was not to be the great
lost love of his life, she could've perhaps been the great unlistened-to
commentator upon it." So he fantasises about her being different, and then
fantasises about her not being different. One might also think that "a
chance to 'choose wrong'" can be applied to Lake herself.

Either way, the passage might also recall Frank and Linnet (203-204), which
emphasises the narrative connection being made here between Frank and Doc.
We're told, for example, that Doc's life changed after "one chance meeting
with the notorious Jimmy Drop gang"; Frank, also, has failed to carry out
the plans he took with him to Golden, his (and Reef's) knowledge (and
subsequent actions) dependent (in part) on Jimmy Drop witnessing Webb's
abduction (206).

Predictably, the scene with Doc ends with Frank saying: "Maybe what I need
to do is talk to Jimmy Drop." Talking to Doc has left him bewildered, as he
was earlier by Merle (307).