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Roy C. Lackey quoted and wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>><i> To have these aspects co-exist in time, we need time-travel for him,
</i>><i> too. Call the old Reis Bill -- he's an evil, murderous, blackmailer. He
</i>><i> came around backstage that night and possibly rubbed out Jimmy. Then he
</i>><i> met Cassie and got charmed. He made arrangements with Chase to get
</i>><i> raised to a higher level himself. The new and better man, Wally, came
</i>><i> back in time after transformation to do a nicer job of wooing Cassie.
</i>
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.
</pre>
</blockquote>
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.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>><i> 2) Why ask Cassie to "leave flowers"?
</i>
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.</pre>
</blockquote>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>><i> 5) In the book, which appearances are Bill and which are Wally?
</i>
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.
</pre>
</blockquote>
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."<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre>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.
</pre>
</blockquote>
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?<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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