Chapter 1

In this chapter we are introduced to our lonely central character, Isserley. After an exposition of her routine, the narrative begins with her in the car, looking for male hitchhikers. She eventually gives one a lift and just outside Inverness gives him some icpathua.

EVENTS

Today starts on page 5, after Isserley’s routine of years up to now is described. It begins ominously with a rattle somewhere above the wheel on the passenger side of her red Toyota Corolla.

• Ignores first hitcher because he’s a local.
• Turns onto A9 at Kildary at 8.24.
• Isserley picks up hitcher #1 in accordance with her routine – she drives past to check him out first and then back past him to make sure: he’s young, tall, broad-shouldered, with a very short haircut, he doesn’t smell, but his teeth are not so good, and he has a bit of a beer belly (all from Isserley’s PoV); his view of her: fantastic tits but otherwise tiny like a kid, skinny arms, knobbly elbows and wrists, big hands like chicken feet, short legs; thick fluffy mouse-brown hair covering her cheeks; small, heart-shaped face like an elf, very thick glasses – ‘half Baywatch babe, half little old lady’.
• Isserley doesn’t understand hitcher’s T-shirt “Ballbreaker”, conversation a bit strained until Isserley realizes the hitcher is right for her, then she uses icpathua on him. The nearest vehicle is a Farmfoods lorry.  When this happens, the car windows turn dark amber, preventing anyone seeing in. Isserley has an out-of-body adrenaline rush when she uses the icpathua toggle.
• The time is only 9.35. But the rattling noise is back. She’ll have it checked back at the farm.

RELATIONSHIPS & CONFLICTS

• Relationship with the world: we get the impression that Isserley is a loner, and an observer.
• Relationship with the hitcher: the conversation with him is strained because he’s not very talkative, she has to get information about him out of him and eventually we learn he is divorced and his wife got the kids, perhaps even that she cheated on him. Isserley tries to make herself sympathetic to him and is about to give up on him when he reveals that there is nobody waiting for him. They are both absorbed in the world of their thoughts and we see them from the other’s point of view.

SETTING

• Set in the Highlands of north-east Scotland – see maps. The places are real. The A9 is the main road running north-south in the area. We learn that there are fields, forests and mountains, and that the allure of beauty is distracting for Isserley.
• The red Toyota is Isserley’s current car. It is stiff to handle and temperamental. She appears to have had several, her favourite being a grey Nissan.
• The sky is described as bruise blue and flesh pink. No snow but frost. It’s winter. No traffic on the road in the early morning. It is sunny but cold. Heater is on in the car. They are heading south towards Dingwall and Inverness. The Cromarty Firth (a stretch of water leading out to the North Sea) is on the left. There is a lone seal on a rock and the tide is out. At this point, the setting reflects Isserley’s view that she has failed. After the Kessock Bridge leading in to Inverness, the hitcher unwittingly reveals that no-one is expecting him in Glasgow – so she uses the icpathua toggle.  The nearest vehicle is the Farmfoods lorry. The world outside is still chilly and bright.

THEME/S

There is a clear sense of otherness about Isserley. An unusual name. An unusual body, as we discover by getting the hitcher’s view of her. An unusual sense of purpose/mission – collecting male (why not female?) hitchhikers that are good physical speciments (what do we think about when we first encounter this). We learn that she has been doing what she’s doing for several years, yet she is still distracted by the physical beauty of the countryside – does this mean she comes from somewhere that is not as distracting? She is an outsider. She wonders about what he thinks of her “in his alien innocence” (11). He is foreign to her and he doesn’t know who she is, he is unaware. Even in the dialogue, the hitcher thinks she talks funny, foreign. She doesn’t understand the significance of word ballbreaker on the hitcher’s Tshirt. She is cautious: she drives carefully to minimise the risk of an accident, she keeps her glasses on to avoid people seeing her eyes. She has something to hide. There is a premeditation in her behaviour – careful, planning.

The word ‘like’ occurs 35 times and the expression ‘as if’ 25 times in the chapter: comparisons are being made continuously. Why?

It was as if she had been set down on a world so newly finished … (2)

Diction of anatomy and body parts: muscles, hunk on legs, specimens, furry carcasses, arterial (road), capillary (path), fleshy biped, weakling, male in prime condition, magnificent brute, curves of his brawny shoulders, swell of his chest, fat, mechanics of his biceps and triceps, roll of his shoulders, ripples of muscle, abdomen was a bit fatty, buttock. Then there is another diction for hitcher’s view of Isserley, mostly focusing on her breasts.

SYMBOLS/MOTIFS

• Is the lone seal representative of Isserley, stranded on a rock? The tide, however, will come in for the seal. There is an ebb and flow in the scheme of things.
• The rattle in the car feels like a foreshadowing of something that can go wrong.

DRAMATURGY

• Equilibrium: the initial background exposition of Isserley’s routine before the narrative kicks in – the rattling noise = disequilibrium.
• No picking up of locals.
• Picking up of prime youthful specimen = gradual rise in tension (where will this lead?)
• Conversation sluggish until the reveal then comes the icpathua and we’re off. There is a climax with the icpathua, then a gradual resolution until she turns on the engine. The rattle is back/still there (= trouble on the horizon)

MEMORABLE FEATURES

• The initial shock of a female stalking male hitchers, until we realise that there is something strange about her.
• The premeditated manner in which she goes about her “work”.
• This strange word icpathua. It doesn’t kill her victim but obviously sedates/anaesthetizes him until she get him to where she’s going.

LINK TO CHAPTER 2