At any rate, Eden wakes up again in Bramford's arms. He starts purring, and she thinks "how could such an ornery animal sound so tame?" Um... jaguars can't purr. Domestic cats and some big cats (such as cheetahs and snow leopards) can purr, but any cat that can roar (lions, tigers, jaguars, etc.) has a different throat-muscle structure from other cats that prevents them from being able to purr. Also, it's been proven that just because a cat's purring doesn't mean it's happy or content -- cats also purr when they're upset, probably to try to soothe themselves.
Maria insists on bringing Eden inside the main hut, insisting she's sick -- but in Spanish. I thought Eden didn't know Spanish, how does she suddenly understand it? Bramford's reluctant to do so, and he gives the best verbal beatdown of Eden ever. Seriously, I almost cheered out loud reading this bit:
"You've done everything in your power to destroy our mission," he told Eden. "If it weren't for your father, I would have farmed you out long ago. You're a blind and selfish girl who cannot see the greater good." -- p. 155
I've said it before and I'll say it again -- Bramford is my favorite character in this book. He's one of the few to actually have brains, and the only one who will call Eden out on her bullcrap. Which makes it all the harder to know that he's bound to be Strangled By the Red String by story's end...
Eden snarks that Bramford's just power-hungry, Bramford snarls at her, and Eden's father steps in before he can bite her face off. Bramford slips off, and Eden refers to him as a "moody bastard." Unlike you, Eden, Bramford's actually got a right to be a little upset at his plight...
Also she suddenly has a chest ache and assumes she's caught The Heat. I have no idea...
Maria leads Eden and her father into the forbidden hut, which feels like it's been long-vacant. There's cobwebs everywhere and a thick layer of "dusk" on the floor, but with recent tracks. I think you meant "dust," Foyt... a thick layer of "dusk" would mean shadows or darkness, and it's hard to leave tracks in that...
There's also hammocks and stools in this cabin, and Eden figures it was a residence for a family and not for Bramford himself. Her father talks about how comfortable the hammocks are and what they're made of (hemp), which gets Eden wallowing in self-pity again.
Even in the grip of pain his inquisitive nature couldn't be dampened. If only he were as curious about her as he was about everything else. -- p. 157
Twilight Sparkle is getting real tired of your
horseapples, Eden...
Foyt is trying WAY too hard to get us to sympathize with Eden, but it's backfiring in a bad way. When you club the reader over the head with repeated scenes of the character feeling sorry for themselves and scream "SHE'S SO TORTURED LOVE HER DAMMIT," you're only making said character look like a massive sad-sack. And I don't know about other people, but I prefer NOT to read about a character that does absolutely nothing but whine about how terrible their life is. There's a reason people don't put up with Anakin Skywalker's whining in the Star Wars prequels, and why Rodimus Prime gets so much flak for being a self-pitying moper in Season 3 of the original Transformers cartoon...
Maria leads them around a corner to view a carved wooden figure of the half-jaguar half-human El Tigre, one that looks somewhat similar to Bramford. I've already gone on at length about how these people shouldn't be worshiping a jaguar god at all, let alone one called El Tigre, so let me just take a moment to bang my head against a wall and we'll move on.
Me too, Tulio, me too...
"Just as I thought" Eden said, her worst fears confirmed. "Bramford planned it all along."
"Point of fact," her father said. "Using the jaguar as a donor was my idea. Of course, I told him about the legend. But how could we have predicted things would turn out so well?"
"Yeah, just great." -- p. 157
Good to see that Eden is still so determined to see the worst in Bramford that she'll jump to the worst possible conclusion immediately. This is NOT the mark of a good romance, people -- people who shift so abruptly from hating each other to wanting to jump each others' bones will NOT make a stable relationship, and certainly not a relationship anyone will want to emulate.
Maria opens a wooden screen leading to another room. This one's furnished to look more like a modern bedroom, with a regular bed, pillows, and a nightstand with a silver hand mirror on it. There's also a painting of black jaguar and a girl, with a signature of R. B. in the corner. Eden's father guesses R. B. stands for Ronson Bramford, but Eden says it's ridiculous because "Bramford is no artist." How would you know this, girl? It's not like you've bothered to learn much about your furry crush...
There's another painting, and this one attracts Eden's eye more for obvious reasons:
She took in the second painting, stunned by what she saw. It was a portrait of a young woman, her white skin visible. Eden couldn't deny the thrill of seeing a Pearl so well represented, a girl just like her. More like her than she could have imagined. The girl's youthful skin shone with the luster of a sea pearl. Soulful, blue eyes stared back at Eden with familiar longing.
Just to remind folks -- and Eden -- that pearls come in
a LOT more colors than just white...
The slender figure and graceful neck also resembled Eden's, though it shocked her to think of herself in such flattering terms. A rare, velvety red Cattleya orchid adorned the girl's long, blond hair. She wore an old-fashioned white dress. In fact, except for the flower and clothing, the resemblance to Eden was uncanny.
Eden's father echoed her thoughts with astonishment. "She could be your clone." -- p 158
You know... Foyt claims that she wrote this book so that whites can better understand the terrible persecution that blacks have undergone. But it's scenes like THIS that make the book come across as a racist trying to justify their views. Here it feels like she's justifying her own racism by going on and on about how beautiful white girls are and how precious our protagonist is for being white. Her book has missed its intended mark by a long shot... if it was intended to be an anti-racist screed in the first place. But I digress...
Apparently the figure in the picture is the infamous Rebecca. Which explains why the children freak out over seeing Eden. But having two girls who look so staggeringly alike show up in one village is a rather big coincidence. I'm aware that there are plenty of people who look shockingly alike (and aren't long-lost twins or anything), but it doesn't happen nearly as often as books like The Prince and the Pauper and movies like Dave will have you believe.
Then again, I'm not sure I'd like this twist much better if Eden DID happen to have a long-lost twin sister who ended up here. I know, it sounds like nothing this book does will make me happy... I just feel like the "lookalike" angle was the right way to go, I guess.
Eden asks where Rebecca is, but Maria just leaves. Eden asks her father what Bramford's hiding, but he insists Bramford's not hiding anything.
"Then tell me, Father, why is there a prison here?"
"It's none of our business."
"What if Rebecca is in trouble?"
"Now who is being ridiculous, Daught?"
"He locked me up."
"You were excitable."
Deserved it, is what he meant. Well, Eden was sick of his and Bramford's grandiose schemes and lack of feeling for anyone's aching heart. -- p. 159-160
What I feel like doing to Eden at this point...
Girl, you are NOT the center of the universe here! Your father and Bramford have more important things to worry about than your precious feelings! You're not some special little snowflake that needs coddled at every opportunity! Gah...
Eden insists Bramford's holding Rebecca prisoner, just like them. Eden's father insists they're not prisoners and that Eden's being illogical. Eden's "proof" that Rebecca's a captive is that there's a painting of her here and that she's obviously not Bramford's sister or mate because high-ranking Coals don't mate with Pearls. Her father points out that it's been known to happen, so Eden points out that Bramford's records state he's single, but her father says that's not foolproof either, that he could have bribed someone to change the record.
Eden's final argument is the mirror, which has a B engraved on the back.
"See this? It's how Bramford marks his territory. Maybe he mated Rebecca and then regretted it. He had to eliminate his mistake so he killed her."
The rapid blinking began. "What? Impossible!"
"Perhaps she's buried in that hut."
"I insist you stop this line of reasoning, Daught!"
"No, Father. For once, you're not being objective. We have to get away from Bramford. Why can't you see that he's a monster?" -- p. 161
Sorry, oh-so-smart-and-logical Eden, but none of your arguments are any proof that Bramford did anything to this Rebecca chick. Just because there's a B engraved on something doesn't mean it's Bramford's, and just because there's evidence that there was a Pearl here doesn't mean Bramford killed her. You don't even have a body or proof that anything violent occurred here. You're jumping to conclusions here.
Also the "marking his territory" bit is pretty dehumanizing... and you certainly weren't thinking Bramford was a monster when you were getting all cuddly with him earlier...
Dr. Newman tells his daughter to stop antagonizing Bramford, and that he's noticed that she's growing attracted to him. She retorts that they're not even the same species "thanks to you" but her father says he knows otherwise and warns her to be careful. Then he goes back to sleep in the hammock while she lays down on the bed. Not even gonna offer your injured and pain-ridden father the bed, Eden?
Eden looks at her reflection in the mirror and admires it, realizes that maybe because Rebecca was beautiful she might be too, and end chapter. Blugh.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to seeing how this Rebecca bit plays out, but knowing the author I'm sure whatever happens, it'll be just as stupid as the rest of the book. Also blog-reader Rodimiss pointed out that "Becky," a nickname derived from Rebecca, is slang for "clueless racist white girl," which just adds another layer of hilarity onto it. Way to go, Foyt...
