This entire chapter is a "dream" sequence in which Mike and Kyra travel back in time to the 1900 county fair. I will describe this chapter as "real" because that's the way Mike describes it and at the end of the dream he has a ribbon and pine sap that he picked up from his travels back in time.
The first thing he notices as he wakes up by Dark Score lake is that there is Royce Merrill's gold tip cane laying in the bottom of the pond and by this he knows that Royce has just died. Mike keeps walking until he gets to the county fairgrounds and he hears Sara Tidwell singing and once he enters the fairgrounds everything becomes much more vivid to him and he knows that this is no dream. He walks around the grounds and sees everyone dressed in 19th century attire (including himself). He goes up to the bandstand to see Sara playing and notices that while everyone is dressed in the period, Sara is dressed in Mattie's dress. Kyra appears and she runs to him and it's clear that both of them are asleep but have somehow been transported back in time. Everyone Mike sees he can identify as an ancestor of one of the current townspeople.
Here introduces something that maybe I missed or hadn't been brought up before, that Sara is an evil spirit . Mike gets chills from her and she laughs at him. He tries to leave with Kyra but Devore (we're assuming Max Devore's grandfather although he isn't given a first name) appears with six other people, two of them who appear to Mike to be ghosts, and try to block his way. Mike notices one of the men with Devore looks a lot like him (Mike) and he thinks that this might be the person Max was referring to when he said that his grandfather was from the TR. Perhaps his grandfather was a henchman for the evil Devore. After they get closer to the group, Mike realizes that they are all walking corpses.
Mike and Kyra run away into the Haunted House that's at the fair and after walking through it, they get away from the bad guys and Kyra takes one door back to her house and Mike takes another. Mike awakens with the ribbon and pine sap from the "dream."
A big plot point from this is that the Sara Laughs or Sara Tidwell's spirit is torturing Jo's spirit in the house. At the end of the chapter Mike hears Jo's spirit screaming and Mike implores the other spirits to leave her alone.
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I suppose this will be another plot added to the book. Jo's spirit being trapped in Sara Laughs and Mike trying to free her.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Bag of Bones: Chapter 20 (pages 331-355)
It looks as though this chapter is the start of Part II in this book. Max Devore and the custody battle seem to be gone. In this part it looks as though Sara Laughs will be the new focus of the novel, but who knows for sure?
Mike goes to the park to meet Mattie and Kyra for lunch. Mattie discusses with Mike that the magnets on her refrigerator have been spelling out words. They've even given a crossword clue, "ninety-two down" which is different from Mike's clue, nineteen down. Mattie says that most of the words are names and one of them is Carla. Mike goes in for this kiss after lunch and Mattie reciprocates and invites him over for (presumably) sex later on that night after Kyra goes to bed. Mike hesitates and "needs some time."
Mike goes home and takes a cold shower (literally) and calls Jo's brother, Frank, for information on what Jo was working on when she came up to Sara Laughs. Frank tells Mike that he was the man Jo was with at the softball game in 1994. Mike is relieved that she wasn't having an affair. Frank also tells him that she took him up to the Sara Laughs but wouldn't let him in because the house was "dangerous." Frank wants to know what's going on but Jo can't tell him. Frank asks if she has told Mike but Jo says that Mike's working on a book and needs to focus on his work. But if he finds out on his own then it's "meant to be." Jo goes into the house, presumably to confront the spirits somehow and after a little while she comes back out looking very relieved. That's when her and Frank go to the softball game. She mentions to Frank that she's been talking to the town's people and mentions Royce Merrill (who is a 95 year old, portrayed as evil by King, who saw Mike with Kyra when they first encountered each other on the highway then went telling the whole town about the incident). Jo says Mike shouldn't talk to him because Royce, "might let the cat out of the bag." Mike thinks this refers to what Max Devore said when he said that Mike's family came from around the TR. Jo also told Frank that Mike had picked out Sara Laughs, that it, "called to him." This "demolished one of the basic assumptions I'd made about my married life." (page 351). Mike always thought that Jo had picked out Sara Laughs and is shocked to remember that he had been one who saw it first and liked it.
Mike gets off the phone with Frank and calls Royce Merrill but he doesn't answer. He finds on the refrigerator the words "Lye still" and associates them with old tombstone sayings. Then proceeds to write until bedtime.
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As I said before, I think this chapter represents the second part of this novel. A number of the plot points have been resolved (seemingly), evil Max and the custody battle and Mike and Mattie's growing affection that they can't express (will they or won't they?) seemed to be cleared up. And Mike's suspicion that Jo was having an affair seems to be explained. What's left? The haunted house, Sara Laughs and the mysteries surrounding the town and it's people (including whether or not Mike's family is from the TR, meaning he might have a different father or grandfather from the one he knows) seem to be what the rest of the book will be about but we'll see as we read along.
Mike goes to the park to meet Mattie and Kyra for lunch. Mattie discusses with Mike that the magnets on her refrigerator have been spelling out words. They've even given a crossword clue, "ninety-two down" which is different from Mike's clue, nineteen down. Mattie says that most of the words are names and one of them is Carla. Mike goes in for this kiss after lunch and Mattie reciprocates and invites him over for (presumably) sex later on that night after Kyra goes to bed. Mike hesitates and "needs some time."
Mike goes home and takes a cold shower (literally) and calls Jo's brother, Frank, for information on what Jo was working on when she came up to Sara Laughs. Frank tells Mike that he was the man Jo was with at the softball game in 1994. Mike is relieved that she wasn't having an affair. Frank also tells him that she took him up to the Sara Laughs but wouldn't let him in because the house was "dangerous." Frank wants to know what's going on but Jo can't tell him. Frank asks if she has told Mike but Jo says that Mike's working on a book and needs to focus on his work. But if he finds out on his own then it's "meant to be." Jo goes into the house, presumably to confront the spirits somehow and after a little while she comes back out looking very relieved. That's when her and Frank go to the softball game. She mentions to Frank that she's been talking to the town's people and mentions Royce Merrill (who is a 95 year old, portrayed as evil by King, who saw Mike with Kyra when they first encountered each other on the highway then went telling the whole town about the incident). Jo says Mike shouldn't talk to him because Royce, "might let the cat out of the bag." Mike thinks this refers to what Max Devore said when he said that Mike's family came from around the TR. Jo also told Frank that Mike had picked out Sara Laughs, that it, "called to him." This "demolished one of the basic assumptions I'd made about my married life." (page 351). Mike always thought that Jo had picked out Sara Laughs and is shocked to remember that he had been one who saw it first and liked it.
Mike gets off the phone with Frank and calls Royce Merrill but he doesn't answer. He finds on the refrigerator the words "Lye still" and associates them with old tombstone sayings. Then proceeds to write until bedtime.
*****************************************
As I said before, I think this chapter represents the second part of this novel. A number of the plot points have been resolved (seemingly), evil Max and the custody battle and Mike and Mattie's growing affection that they can't express (will they or won't they?) seemed to be cleared up. And Mike's suspicion that Jo was having an affair seems to be explained. What's left? The haunted house, Sara Laughs and the mysteries surrounding the town and it's people (including whether or not Mike's family is from the TR, meaning he might have a different father or grandfather from the one he knows) seem to be what the rest of the book will be about but we'll see as we read along.
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