(urth) AEG: Margaret

[Dave Tallman]

Roy C. Lackey quoted and wrote:
> >/ To have these aspects co-exist in time, we need time-travel for him,
> />/ too. Call the old Reis Bill -- he's an evil, murderous, blackmailer. He
> />/ came around backstage that night and possibly rubbed out Jimmy. Then he
> />/ met Cassie and got charmed. He made arrangements with Chase to get
> />/ raised to a higher level himself. The new and better man, Wally, came
> />/ back in time after transformation to do a nicer job of wooing Cassie.
> /
> If it happened that way, there would be no need for him to go back in time.
> Bill just becomes Wally. Time travel by hopper seems too iffy to exercise
> fine control.
>   
In almost every variation of this I can think of, Cassie saw both the 
"before" and "after" version of Bill. But there is no mention of her 
seeing anything different about him. I really doubt he was transformed.

> >/ 2) Why ask Cassie to "leave flowers"?
> /
> I don't know. Why did Pat Gomez do the same, particularly since it seems so
> bizarre in the circumstances? But it seems to be why Cassie had just come
> from Oakland before speaking to Klauser. Best I can tell, Pat somehow
> assisted, or at least tried, to keep Cassie from dying the night of the
> storm, when both Cassie and Reis were supposed to die. As indicated by Pat
> saying to Cassie, "You will live.", contradicting the dead assassin. (280)
> The two "leave flowers" bits must be related somehow.
I was thinking along those lines, too. Pat Gomez was dead, a zombie, and 
she wanted someone to lay flowers on her grave, even though her body was 
not there. Likewise, Bill's body was not on the Volcano God's island, 
but the black coral image was a gravestone of sorts, associated with the 
place they first made love. Cassie honored both requests for flowers.

Did Pat help save Cassie, or just predict her escape? Some say the dead 
are outside of time, able to see the future. Or Pat might have helped by 
calling the bat-creatures. They called Death's Visitors.  Most of their 
appearances to Cassie are right after a violent death.

> >/ 5) In the book, which appearances are Bill and which are Wally?
> /
> I don't know. But when Reis and Cassie had their walk on that island, he is
> referred to as Reis, she calls him Bill, then calls him Wally and asks him
> if it is okay to call him Wally sometimes. (270) Odd.
>   
I never saw the distinction you made, with Bill and Wally as separate 
people in Cassie's mind. Wally is like a pet name she choses after she 
has come to love him. Cassie explains this on p. 288: "My husband's name 
wasn't Wally. Not really. It was Bill. I called him Wally a-- a lot. It 
was a little private joke we had."

> I don't know yet what I have in mind; I've hardly begun to connect all the
> dots. It would help if I knew why the Volcano God chose to appear to Cassie
> as Vince instead of Bill/Wally, and why *he* thought she might see him
> again. How? Why would he think that? The fire she built was as much a ritual
> fire as a rescue beacon.
>   
Vince is still an unknown in my mind. He's an established actor, having 
done TV or movie work (westerns, p. 65), voiceovers (Memorare), and the 
stage. His voice makes everything he says sound important (285). Was he 
transformed up? It's troublesome to explain how Vince ended up in a play 
close to Cassie before she became involved in Chase's plot. Is a time 
traveler setting things up?

How might Cassie see Wally again? If Cassie goes back in time as 
Margaret, she will see him again, not very happily. Or he could mean in 
the life to come.

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