Atdtda23: Falling asleep, 656-658

[Paul Nightingale]

A few pages back the chapter opened with "the platoons of ladies who
gathered each shift's end at the tunnel entrances in their respective
countries" (652). Now we find that Ruperta is among their number (657). She
is accompanied by "[a] young Italian gentleman", whose disgust ("... is some
difficulty with this troglodita?") indicates a refusal to join her in
slumming. Cf. the readiness with which Gunther takes offence on 599. Ruperta
apparently "wait[s] for Rodolfo to fall asleep" before going out, so her
sexual adventures can be juxtaposed to whatever dreams emerge from his
unconscious. Similarly, Reef and Ruperta get down to it "despite the
presence of young Rodolfo in a nearby room".

When "the name of Scarsdale Vibe enter[s] the stream of idle chatter" we are
returned to the earlier discussion of "long-standing blood vendetta[s]"
(653). Reef is currently lost in the cycle of earning and spending money,
unable to "[squirrel] much away" (652): his account of the Traverse-Vibe
history seems muted by way of comparison to the story Ramiz tells,
indicating a reluctance to go into too much detail. He is "dismayed" to hear
Ruperta's voice (656); she brings with her the option of "reliving the same
mistakes". Subsequently, it is her voice, with Reef "almost ready to fall
asleep" (657), that brings back Scarsdale Vibe.