(urth) Babbiehorn?: Was: a sincere question mostly for roy

[David Stockhoff]

On 11/17/2011 12:12 PM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
> *From:* James Wynn <mailto:crushtv at gmail.com>
> On 11/17/2011 10:35 AM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
> >
> > While I’m far from certain of the theory above (the first one, not the
> >
> >
> techno-ghost, which would work much better if it happened in Rose’s
> > > room, which has a glass), I do ‘own’ it to the extent that I strongly
> > > believe it’s correct about Mucor, I think it’s the most reasonable
> > > interpretation of Pike so far, and I don’t really know about the 
> bird,
> > > but I like the Mucor possession idea. Silk only saw something 
> behind a
> > > curtain that looked like a bird flying out the window, then he 
> thought
> > > of Oreb. He’d have thought of Oreb if he saw any large bird.
>
> > No. *According to the text* Silk saw *Oreb*. He only doubted himself
> > based on the fact that "it made no sense" since Oreb couldn't fly. Then
> > he collects a series of other rationalizations.
> In the darkness. In the faint skylight from a curtained window. But he 
> “saw” him so it must have been Oreb no matter what absurdly contrived 
> explanation we have to make to justify it. That’s just silly literalism.
> He thought it was Oreb, but it wasn’t a big deal to him until he 
> remembered Oreb had a dislocated wing, and his curiosity was piqued.

You're right. I believe it was the parrot from Disney's Aladdin, who had 
gotten lost backstage. That's less convoluted---it just IS.
>
>
> > If none of your theories explains the second Oreb (or the something 
> that
> > looked an awful lot like Oreb flying out the window) then they explain
> > nothing.
> A bird possessed by Mucor explains it, IMO. It’s the best I can do at 
> the moment.
> Now, how do you explain how a time travelling one-eyed Rajan looks 
> like a 70+ year old Pike?

Not that hard. There is a somewhat counterintuitive situation here in 
that (1) Silk at 23 apparently does not look remarkably like old Pike, 
but Silk at 43 does. That does require a little work.

But anyone whose hair is white at 43 ... I mean, come on. Silk did not 
have time to shake his hand and have a drink with him. He was there for 
a moment.

Why would Wolfe have had the Rajan's hair turn white if he didn't mean 
for him to look like a white-haired man?