ATDTDA (16): I've thought of you often, 451-455

[Paul Nightingale]

Merle discovers Candlebrow, "and recognise[s] the place he'd been looking
for, the one he'd missed first time around": a rereading, then, a second
take. And in the first sentence: "... a certain almost-familiar shade of
yellow", a shade one might have seen before, but can't be sure.

On 454 Merle meets Chick wearing a moustache; on the Saksaul he has a beard
(438). Here, Chick is still "trying to get fixed up with some Hypops
equipment" (455) and we find more information on Bounce v Vibe, mentioned
briefly on 426: only now, in conversation with Merle, does Roswell explain
his 'solution'. So far in this chapter, then, the reader has been reminded
twice of their superior (perhaps 'more advanced' is a better way of putting
it) knowledge: with regard to Dally's parentage (possibly Merle knows, or
can make an educated guess, as to what Erlys will tell her daughter, when
they meet, but none of this is in the text) and now, taken back to
preparations for the Chums' departure. Merle is therefore, in this chapter,
a character the reader has left behind: like Dally? Chick thinks back to
their last meeting, and mentions Dally: "I've thought of you often, and of
course your lovely daughter" (454). Cf. Merle's own recollection, and
Clarabella's "forlornness" (449). Again, Chick's "often" implies a constant
returning to, perhaps a resurrection of, a moment in time: as with Veikko,
is the thought of a thought?

To say 'left behind' is to invoke linear over circular time, of course; and
Thorvald the twister exemplifies the relationship between repetition and
difference, "... indisputably always the same tornado" (453), just as
Professor Vanderjuice points out the difficulty of ordering conferences
(407). If one cannot say with certainty that this is the first conference,
can one say this twister is making its first appearance? The twister always
has a history, registered by the "storm-cellar ... known throughout the
region" (452).

The reader might only infer that this is the same conference attended by the
Chums in Ch30; however, Merle has "become a fixture at the summer
get-togethers" (454) when he meets Chick, so there is no way of knowing for
sure,  the current chapter offering a Merle-Thorvald narrative that runs
parallel to the one before, action "missed first time around". Consider,
then, the distinction Foucault makes between origins and beginnings, and
wonder about that "first time" (as well as Chick's "I've thought of you
often").