No worries, U.R.T. Just having you kind folks taking the time to read through all my nonsense and then give a thoughtful response means a lot to me. And even if I don’t agree, having to think about why I don’t agree helps me sort out my ideas.
Thanks for the response, Yllaria. Lot of good stuff to think about there. Something about the way you phrased it helps me lean toward the idea that she was just sticking to her guns, and saying “whether you think the answers right or not, you have to give it to me”, and Thor finally (off screen) giving in and telling her.
Also, I’d always imagined him saying “I wasn’t going to count them again! Think!” in a very short, angry, Thor-like way. After your post, thought of him delivering it in a more broad, sit-com kinda style, drawing out the agaaiiinn in a humorous way. And also the somewhat amusing idea of Thor telling someone else to think. Not sure it totally fits his character, but maybe DA had been watching too many sitcoms and decided to give it a whirl.
I see what you’re saying about the airlock, and if he hadn’t revealed the punch line (that he’d actually lost count) the first time, I don’t think I would have thought twice about it. In fact, might have been wondering all the time between the two conversations how it came out, building even more anticipation before the funny let-down. But it seemed more like telling the exact same joke twice with no changes, which is why I thought the point must be something besides just getting a laugh.
I’ve re-read the parts with Kate and Thor numerous times, and skimmed through the pages between the two mentions of the count. Since I’m determined to try to put the question that’s been nagging me to rest once and for all, I actually just started re-reading the whole thing again from page 1 last night.
Think I’d got it into my head that Dirk was just ‘sensitive’ to psychic impressions, and also willing to let them guide his investigations without being impeded by things like ‘logic’ and ‘common sense’. I’d forgotten the whole fortune telling bit at the beginning. I was amazed at just how much of the story was predicted in what seemed like just those little throw-away bits at the start.
He gives the pilots wife his formal predictions, then when it turns out they’re all horribly true in ways he didn’t intend them, he seems to get flustered and just babble a bunch of vague reassuring things that are all also exact predictions of the books ending. And even Kate’s ranting description of all the seemingly inconsequential, troublesome little details involved in getting ready to go away on a trip have a lot of clues to events and relationships.
Unfortunately, also discovered that the anecdote about the deep significance of there being only one banana in each bowl actually comes from this very book. But since it sounds like even Adams forgot why he put them there, don’t think I’m going to lose sleep over that one the same way. Might be fun to make up some reasons, but more in the spirit of the answers to “Why is a raven like a writing desk.” (which I just googled to make sure I had the details right, and the first result that came up is below. This site is awesome. Saved me a lot of typing too.)
One thing that came to mind is that Kate and Thor’s fruit bowls each have one lone banana in the public hospital, and then there’s a description later of how Odin’s fruit bowl is always kept full of fresh fruit and flowers, even though he never eats any. So maybe some kind of point about the difference between public and private care? But again, doesn’t seem like enough to get too excited over. (maybe a reference to the Kennedy assassination, the lone banana theory)
Finally, one other little reference from the beginning of the book, that may have influenced my thinking about how a god like Thor would approach a Great Labor, is an off-hand mention of the way Hercules cleaned out the Aegean Stables in a single day by ripping two sides off and diverting a river through them. Kind of thing that makes me wonder if Wales had recently experienced massive flooding around the time the book was written.
Anyway, with these questions now firmly in the front of my mind, hoping one more thorough read-through will reveal any other subtle clues I missed. Thanks again for listening.
