atdtda35: A delicate question and disingenuousness, 1004-1005

[Paul Nightingale]

In this section discussion focuses on 'the delicate question of who [will]
get to shoot whom'. Vibe appears 'pretty much a sitting duck', while Walker
is 'the dangerous target' - cf his reintroduction at the start of 67.3 on
1003. Here, 'psychological talk and that' (1005) means Frank's relationship
with Webb is set against Ewball's relationship with his father: Vibe, it
might be said a patriarchal figure, stands in for Ewball's father. Cf the
exchange between Reef ('I can count on you in this, can't I?') and Kit on
727.

However, 'careful observations' (1004) again cannot give access to the
Vibe/Walker relationship as it now exists, or indeed for a long time has
existed. On 1001: 'But Scarsdale did not seek out the eyes of his old
faithful sidekick. He seldom did anymore.' In the current section, in
Trinidad, as seen by Ewball: '... they spend the afternoon seein what new
kind of evil they'll cook up' (1004). Cf on 333: Walker 'had come to see
little point these days in speaking up', with Vibe 'a ruler isolated in
self-resonant fantasy'.