Summary: Chapter 29
This chapter unfolds in a stream of consciousness, as
Jack narrates seemingly unrelated moments from his days. We begin
in the supermarket, where Jack and Babette discuss Jack’s health.
When he makes a motion to go down another aisle, Babette says she’s
afraid to be alone.
Jack tell us that the déjà vu crisis centers have closed,
now that people seem to be forgetting things.
During one of his German lessons, Jack spots a German
translation of The Egyptian Book of the Dead, which
Howard Dunlop informs him was a best-seller in Germany.
Jack rummages through Denise’s room, browsing absentmindedly.
He moves through the house, throwing away all kinds of clutter.
He hears Babette listening to talk radio and the sound of the gas meter.
That night, Jack goes into Heinrich’s room, where the
boy is watching a news report. Two bodies have been discovered in
someone’s backyard, and the reporter says that twenty or thirty
bodies are expected to be uncovered. But as time goes on, no more
bodies are found, and everyone experiences a sense of failed expectations.
Summary: Chapter 30
Jack continues to have trouble sleeping, so he wakes up
Babette and demands to know Mr. Gray’s real name and the company
he worked for so that he can try Dylar for himself. Babette refuses
to tell him, because she’s afraid he wants to kill Mr. Gray. The
next morning, Jack continues to press the issue, arguing that Mr.
Gray will be impressed with him as a test subject, since he is actually
scheduled to die soon. Babette says that Dylar was her mistake and
she won’t let it become his mistake as well.