(urth) AEG clones

[Roy C. Lackey]

Dave Tallman quoted and wrote:
> > Why put himself in a position to be caught in a lie that served no
purpose?
> > Why did Wolfe put that bit of conversation in the story?
> >
> If Bill was actually in the "empty" seat the whole time, then perhaps
> "You were wearing green the first time I saw you," is a lie and yet not
> a lie. During the play Cassie was projecting Mildred, the soon-to-be
> murder victim. When he saw her in green she was herself.
>
> I also think her love glamour worked through proximity. Bill started
> changing his mind about destroying her when she came up to the
> microphone, and completely dumped the idea when she sat beside him in
> the car. The distance from the stage to his seat was too far for him to
> get the full effect.

Regardless of exactly when or why Reis had a change of heart, Cassie saw him
in the audience and he stated at the cast party that he had seen the play.

> So, suppose he sat through the whole play, invisible. There are a couple
> of good reasons for changing his story. The first is that Cassie or
> Chase might have checked with the ushers and found out his reserved seat
> was empty.

What reserved seat? The theater wasn't anywhere near full and she saw Reis
in the second row, not the first, where a reserved seat would be.

I don't know if it is relevant (Wolfe might have made a mistake), but there
is a ticket discrepancy. At the cast party Reis said that India had given
him "a ticket". (66) At Rusterman's he said India had given him "tickets,
and I didn't want to admit I hadn't used them." (119)

> Reis had to say he lied about being there or admit he walked
> invisible.

Gid (or someone) had already told her that Reis "walks unseen" in the note
written on the back of one of the pictures he left her the night before the
play. (44) With that in mind, go back and read carefully the bit at the top
of page 21, as he was leaving the White House. On a sunny day. If I were a
rabid clone theorist, I would also start wondering about John's glasses (15)
and Gid's cryptic little dig at him about optics. (19) And why Reis wears
glasses only in some photos. He was wearing glasses when she saw him in the
audience.

> More importantly, he didn't want to be associated with the
> death of her friend Jimmy. If he admitted being there, he would be
> admitting he could be the man in the alley who bribed Jimmy and possibly
> murdered him. That wouldn't be a good start to his intended relationship.

There is no way Reis could have avoided being associated with Jimmy. He, or
his proxy, had been the big guy who sent Jimmy to Cassie with the message
about the gift, right after the play ended. She got the message and sent
Jimmy with a reply, and Reis knew it. It was a very foolish thing for him to
have brought up the subject again at all, much less to contradict himself
over such a small matter as when he first saw her.

-Roy