(urth) Nicholas timing and trunk, etc

[Mo Holkar / UKG]

At 08:07 04/05/2010, Roy wrote:
>But all this brings up another nasty problem I should have seen before. In
>the middle of the river battle, Bax got that silly phone call from Nicholas,
>who was supposed to be locked up again in the trunk. The problem is, the
>trunk was on the back of Bax's old car, the same car he and the others drove
>out to the Skotos Strip in. So was Nicholas back in the trunk when Bax drove
>the car out of the driveway of his house that day? If so, then Nick failed
>to tell Bax before he set out, and Bax had talked to him.


Hmm, that is tricky. I guess it's possible that the trunk had been 
removed from the car. I have the impression that it's detachable -- 
"the trunk is an actual trunk, a huge piece of luggage that could... 
be carried" (108). So it could still be back at the house, wth 
Nicholas inside it, during the battle. It would seem a bit of a cheat 
not to mention this though (plus, who would be the notional four men 
required to move it?)


>Did Doris, Orizia, George and old Nick find and confine Nicholas sometime
>earlier on the day of the river battle? It isn't clear the time of day that
>Martha phoned Bax, but after the call he got dressed for the trip, talked to
>Nick, collected Toby and Winkler, then drove over to pick up Martha and went
>out to the Skotos Strip. Or was Nicholas captured the day or night before
>the battle? During the phone call with Martha he told her that George was
>safe in jail. He must have been wrong about that, but still . . .
>
>The postscript to Doris's last letter just confuses me more. She said that
>after they found and locked up Nicholas she went with Orizia to her hotel
>room and talked a bit, and was now going to bed. That makes it seem like it
>was late in the day if not at night when she was writing. So when did they
>put Nicholas in the trunk? The real estate inquiries Nicholas got on her
>cell phone suggest the calls came during business hours.


Those calls may have been received just shortly prior to the river 
battle, during the presumably daytime period while Bax was collecting 
his passengers and driving to the Strip, so I don't think they 
necessarily say anything about when Nicholas was confined. But yes, 
the Doris postscript strongly implies it was evening.


I am now wondering why it is that on pp242, 244 Bax is hiring cabs 
rather than driving himself. Maybe he is now wary of using the car, 
because of the associated (he believes, although Mme Orizia has 
already told him otherwise, 221) faerie effects?


Also, this cab period follows a conversation with Nick which Bax says 
he will give Millie in its proper place (242) -- but, as far as I can 
see, he never does so. I don't think it can be the conversation that 
he reports to George on 254 et seq, because after that he goes to bed (259).



When I reread this book properly, I'll try to do up a timeline...


Mo


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