Atdtda22: Perhaps, you'll meet her, 615-619

[Paul Nightingale]

Kit visits two banks, one "in the Weenderstrasse", the other "down a few
back alleys"; his status has changed, and again he finds himself following
an alternative narrative, "perhaps with some hidden talent for
precognition". He tries to explain to Yashmeen, but is interrupted by "a
demented young man" (616). For Kit, the ongoing relationship with Scarsdale
Vibe drives the narrative forward, eg: "It seemed now that Scarsdale Vibe
had been far too eager ..." etc. Juxtaposed to this is the appearance of
"[a] new subset of heretics, this time against Lenin and his Bolshevists"
and their interest in Yashmeen, who says the TWIT are also in town: "They
want me out of Gottingen ..." etc (617). By which time Kit's own fate, the
"piece of news" (616) he starts telling Yashmeen, has been effectively
forgotten. Whereas Kit is no longer 'needed', or indeed 'wanted', Yashmeen
has become the centre of attention; and he becomes an audience for her
storytelling.

Eventually, two pages after he first tried, Kit manages to tell her what has
happened: "They've cut off my letters of credit." (618) His speculations
("Maybe something's happened in the States ...") echo her own account of the
Otzovists (616), an attempt to provide a 'big picture' by summarising events
from a distance. Subsequently Yashmeen also talks about her family: "...
since the revolution in Russia my father's position has become precarious"
(618). Here, then, she finds what might be called a personal dimension, a
way of inserting herself into events as Kit has done previously. By the end
of the section she has indicated that Kit might find employment with the
TWIT (619), which confirms the 'bond' suggested when she talks of her
father.