The Haunted Boardinghouse

Tony Ellis · 24 Jun 2000, 14:55 · from urth-v0029.mbox · original

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From: "Tony Ellis" <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Subject: (urth) The Haunted Boardinghouse
Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 15:55:33 +0100
Message-ID: <urth-v0029-0073 at digest.urth.net>
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I don=E2=80=99t think that Greek myth is the key to this story. There=E2=80=
=99s a case
for seeing the house as the Labyrinth, in which case I would call burly,
red-faced Headmaster Seely the minotaur, rather than Minos, but I think
that=E2=80=99s about as far as it goes. I think you=E2=80=99ll find that, t=
his being the
Second Punic War and all, the =E2=80=9Cgreat animal, a fighting bull or a
buffalo=E2=80=9D that Enan hears at the end of the story had a trunk, not h=
orns.
:-)

As for Wade being Icarus etc. The boy who fell out of the window did so
a long time ago, when it was still an outside window. So Wade isn=E2=80=99t=
 the
boy isn=E2=80=99t Icarus. The bundle of feathers is on the roof because a b=
loody
great falcon is also on the roof.

I also don=E2=80=99t feel that the architecture is that significant, beyond=
 the
extended tribute to Little, Big. The different faces of the house don=E2=80=
=99t
open onto their respective time periods. The bedroom door Enan opens
onto the darkling landscape is in the Tudor side of the house. Enan is
able to go back to the early days of Rome because he=E2=80=99s dead, and be=
cause
that=E2=80=99s where Death is nice enough to take him.

The pale maiden Enan sees is Death. That=E2=80=99s why when Enan says that =
she
is Mrs Seely she agrees =E2=80=9CYes. I am his bride.=E2=80=9D And why she =
says of the
cutthroat =E2=80=9Che tries so hard to win a smile from me.=E2=80=9D Terrib=
le, terrible
pun there. Her shadow races with the death-bringing falcon, and she
hangs around Enan because he=E2=80=99s at death=E2=80=99s door for most of =
the story.

Enan only sees the past of the boardinghouse when he is in her presence,
when the light from her lamp makes the walls transparent. The first time
she walks with him is an out of body experience, I=E2=80=99m not sure about=
 the
second.

Now here=E2=80=99s the thing that=E2=80=99s really doing my head in. When E=
nan meets
Seely, Seely says that the Doctor has recently seen him, although Enan
has no memory of this. Mrs Boyle goes to fetch the feversish Enan
another blanket. He awakes with it over his head, meets Death again. As
they stroll he notices that his arm stings. So far so good.

Then Wade says something that turns all this upside down. He says =E2=80=9C=
Mrs
Boyle came in with another blanket, and you were dead. They sent for the
doctor=E2=80=A6 and he gave you injections.=E2=80=9D Now it =E2=80=93sounds=
- like he=E2=80=99s talking
about Enan when he first comes to the boardinghouse. That=E2=80=99s what En=
an
assumes. But what about that blanket?

When Enan wakes up after meeting Seely, the blanket Seely sent Mrs Boyle
for is over Enan=E2=80=99s head. There=E2=80=99s only one time when we leav=
e people like
that. Right on cue, Death turns up. And then, when they walk, he gets
that pain in the arm. Because the doctor injected it earlier? Or because
wherever his body is, the doctor is currently injecting it?

--
Tony Ellis
On-line Editor, PC Format magazine
01225 442244 x2349
http://www.pcformat.co.uk

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