The events of our lives unfold linearly, but in the mental reel of these past experiences, most of the frames that haven’t been completely stolen by time are left distorted and blurred by it. When you try to reconstruct the series, you find that it isn’t complete, but maybe this never really bothers you, because you can’t miss what you don’t remember.
What the narrator is describing specifically is “the nature of memory.” But beyond that he is also engaging in a little foreshadowing since this observation on the nature of memory occurs about five paragraphs into the story. The book is structured in much the same way as this description of how the process of remembering actually works. It is not a directly linear chronology, but rather works on a non-entirely conscious level in which important information is not arrived as through simple geometrical reasoning. Remember, if you are not satisfied with how it turns out, you were warned.
She held the front of the envelope up to my eyes, but I could only look at her and watch as all the color began draining out of her face, as if something was siphoning the life right out of her. With tears welling up in her eyes, she said that she had to call the police because there was no postmark.
The memory that the narrator is trying to pull into focus, reduce the blurry quality and correct the distortion is all bound up together with a school project involving helium balloons released to the vagaries of the wind, letters, Polaroids and the attempt to find a penpal. The seemingly benign little elementary school experience goes perfectly fine for most of the class. But the current is not so kind to one balloon.
“See you again. Soon.”
Out of context, this quote hardly seems deserving of being highlight for its special significance. Place into context, however, it takes on a sinister and even menacing character that is indicate of the book as a whole. As the foreshadowing at the beginning implies, facts and details may be remembered honestly and truthfully, but because of the blurred nature of—well…context—even if the details are spot-on, the meaning may not be. Not at all. Not even close.
Cat food.
It was a different kind of food than we gave to Boxes, and initially I couldn’t understand why it would be down there of all places.
Here is another example of how apprehension of facts does not constitute comprehension of meaning. The cat food is recognized as different from the norm, but the real significance is that it is has been discovered by the narrator in the place that it should not be. Nothing is right about this moment, but there is also nothing so out of place as to suggest imminent danger. And within that moment of “mental archaeology” the narrator’s brain kicks into automatic pilot and immediately starts trying to come up with a logical connection to explain why this particular situation may be odd and unexpected, yet makes perfect sense. Except that it doesn’t and he quickly needs to take control back from the brain’s autopilot in order to clear up the blurry distortion.
