Bodie Carlyle (SPOILERS)
Registered to ask this:
In this section of the novel, Shot and Echo are recalling how they traveled to Middleton to see if Irene had been murdered, and at this point they had just been awakened by the barking dog packs while parked outside Rant's house. Buddy appears and Irene brings him in the house. How does this pertain to the story? Section in question:
Echo Lawrence: The dogs barking woke me up. Still parked, watching Rant's old house. Still night. The front porch light blinked on, and the screen door creaked. The outline of someone leaned out, and a woman's voice shouted, "Fetch!"
The howling, barking, and snarling shrank, smaller, the sound blurred.
Shot Dunyun: The woman on the porch, in the glare of the yellow lightbulb, yelled, "Fetch! Come on, boy!"
From next to the trunk of a locust tree, a shape broke away. A figure stepped out, and a man's voice said, "Mrs. Casey?"
Echo Lawrence: And Irene said, "Bodie? Bodie Carlyle?"
By then, the figure had one foot on the bottom porch step. The screen door squeaked, and Irene said, "Get in here. You're going to catch your death..."
Bodie Carlyle (* Childhood Friend): You see, life only turns out good or bad for only a little bit. And then it turns out some other way.
Shot Dunyun: The man stepped inside. The porch light went out.
Neddy Nelson: And isn't this the point when that bogus Sheriff Carlyle arrested us?
What does Bodie mean by saying that? And does Bacon Carlyle arresting the trio have anything to do with it?
The best explanation I can come up with is that at this point, Rant and Chester are both out of Irene's life for good (in this cycle of the circle, anyway), and now she is beginning to have an affair with Bodie? Bodie might be out to get revenge on Rant, as he has been under the impression that Rant screwed his (Bodie's) mom since their high school years. He was never aware of Rant's supersenses and just assumed that Rant had had sex with everyone he could identify by smell.
But I'm sure someone else has a better explanation, so fire away.
Is it weird that this is the only part of the story I'm hung up on? Everything else was pretty clear to me.
uh. i dont know. i'm waiting for the movie.
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kidding, of course. fantastic book. it's been a while since i'd read it and i'd only read it through one time thus far and ive read a lot since then. let me give it some thought tonight at work and get back to you later tonight if the memory pops into focus for me.
oh, and welcome to the cult !
-kabol
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play hard, like it's work to be done.
This had never really occured to me as being crucial to the rest of the novel, but maybe you're onto something.
I remember reading all this and having my theory about what it all meant but it's been so long now since i read it that I got no idea what it was.
I'm glad that this has generated some conversation... I definitely think there's a story element here. It just seems too structured to be a series of events insignificant to the greater story. I mean, why would Bodie be standing under the tree in the Caseys' yard in the first place?
the fact that bacon arrested them also suggests to me that he was helping his little brother out and clearing the way for him to have sex with her.
conditioned to self interest with emotions locked away...if thats what they call normal then i'd rather be insane...
Yeah I also think it was sexually related... That was my first gut feeling about that scene. But then again it is his best friend...
Cynically speaking it was to get revenge.
Idealistically and optimistically speaking it was, maybe, to tie in that Echo, Shot and Neddy weren't the only ones watching if anybody came to kill Irene.
But then again
the fact that bacon arrested them also suggests to me that he was helping his little brother out and clearing the way for him to have sex with her.
This supports the "banging my best friend's mom for revenge for banging my mom" theory...
Or it could just be that the police dude hates outsiders and is some redneck hilbilly that dosen't take kindly to people who arent from around there...
This is alot of maybes but depending on your point of view the interpretation of the scene is altered...
I'll go with the more optimistic theory and say everyone was looking out for Irene... Just because I enjoy the idea 
Well, maybe its an anchor for an actual Rant trilogy, rather than just beign a 'sci-fi' trilogy.....
who knows? Only CP. You should ask THA Man.
Wouldn't it be nice?
I reread this chapter and I have a couple explanations. Each one is crazier than the last.
#1
Bodie was simply coming over to Irene's house to have a chat.
#2
Bodie is having an affair with Irene. Bacon arrested them to clear the way.
#3
Bodie wasn't actually having an affair with Irene, but had been driven mad by the idea of Rant sleeping with his mom, and came to rape Irene
#4
Bodie was really Green Taylor Simms returning to kill Irene.
Personally, I don't feel it's out of revenge. Don't feel like looking up the exact page, but Bodie says at one point in their childhood that Rant's mom was pretty. And think about it, she's only 14 years older than tham, and Rant was 19 when he disappeared, to I assume Bodie is 19 as well...making Irene 33. That's not TOO big an age gap, and not unreasonable.
He may have had shitty moments with Rant as a kid, not being into the biting, etc...but I'd like to think there was no revenge in this...only a sort of coming together in Rant's absence. Now that the chaotic element (Rant) is gone from their lives, though they mourn his "death"...there's a possibility to move on together as sort of "survivors of buster casey"...or maybe not /shrug.
In the last chapter, "Contributors," it says that Bodie and Irene both run the Middleton Tooth Museum and that Irene is very wealthy now because of it. Is it possible that Bodie went over there to propose this plan to Irene?
It says they both run the museum, and that Irene is very wealthy but I doubt that's because of the tooth museum as early on when Chet is leaving after Rant dies he tells her to take down the wallpaper in Rant's room and there will be treasure. Just like when Chet went to rants apartment and wherever there were black booger on the wall there was a coin inside it.
But anyway beings as Irene and Bodie both run the Tooth Museum together this makes me think that they are friends and really it's kind of in memory of Rant. I don't know if they have sex or not, but I do believe they are on good terms.
This was my thought as well. Bodie was in with Rant on the whole toothfairy thing several years back, so it makes sense that Bodie would end up with all the teeth they collected (Rant wouldn't take them to the city with him, so they must have been left with Bodie).
To start a museum, Bodie would need money, and Irene has loads of it now (after stripping the wallpaper in Rant's old bedroom). So the two go in on it together.
But why? Something special about the teeth? Is the museum a front for something else? A cover for something? Why waste money on a museum of the townspeople's teeth?
Hey, registered to add this thought, obviously Irene and Bodie are getting their nookie on. But I also think Bodie and probably Bacon are werewolves. There were dogs howling right? Then Irene comes out and has a yell at Fetch, then Bodie steps out from the shadows of a tree, I doubt he was just standing there..
It wasn't just showing "peoples teeth". Look at it more as a holy site to those who worshiped Rant, similar to Graceland, Strawberry fields, or maybe even the Kaaba. In all likelihood the museum became a very popular destination for those wanting to be a "Child of Rant". The story of the tooth fairy money probably became larger then life after his death.
I don't believe it was sex for revenge because I didn't sense any spite in Bodie's remembrance of Rant. Clearly, they became business partners but I wonder if that was out of convince and trust, or the result of a deeper relationship. Something tells me after 20 years of a sexless marriage something Irene was DTF. As far as Bacon goes I don't think it has anything to do with protecting Brodie 1. considering he did not like the Casey family 2. He just hated the idea of outsiders in his town. If anything it refers more to maybe the unlikely couple hatching a scheme to profit of all the outsiders coming into Rant's Bethlehem.
I think there's definately more to that section than just Bodie wanting to bang Rant's mom, or him proposing the plan of the tooth museum. There's got to be more signifigance than that, I doubt that CP would have thrown in a milf/bff affair just for shits and gigs.
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