wendelah1: (0)
wendelah1 ([personal profile] wendelah1) wrote in [community profile] xf_book_club 2011-04-13 07:32 am (UTC)

Re: #8 Getting Used to Gunfire

I need to say something about the ending of this story, too. Cofax is again using Maggie Scully's point of view to show us Mulder and Scully.

When Mrs. Scully wakes up in the truck feeling filthy and wanting a shower, she decides to change her clothes. What she sees next changes her mind.

I peer through the window into the back, and then decide to wait for a while: the back of the truck is occupied.

Mulder has shoved the trunks, bags, and assorted supplies to either side, and has made a nest in the bed of the truck. He is on his back, his head pillowed awkwardly on Bill's old duffel bag. Dana lies almost entirely on top of him, her cheek on his chest. They are covered by one of the sleeping bags and an ugly purple and yellow afghan I pulled off the bed in the guest room. His arms are wrapped around her, keeping her in place, and his eyes are wide open, staring at the darkening sky, where the stars are slowly coming into view.


The intimacy of that moment must have been startling, at least it was for me. I don't picture them as having spent a night in one another's arms, not at this point in the series. It makes my throat catch a little.

The final lines are foreboding.

The road is dark and bumpy, lit only by the headlights of the big truck. Trees and road signs rise up suddenly in the sidewash of the high-beams, and drop just as quickly astern. We are in North Carolina now, I think. There are no lights anywhere. It is overcast and there are no stars.

That's fine with me.

I don't want to see the stars any more.


The language is somber and measured and the imagery spare, matching Maggie's darkening mood.





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