Section 2 Summary

Quotes in this section are of the first few lines of each variation of the basic story.

Notation. The story is told, for the most part, in point form—short images, few sentences, informal structure, a few telling details. "A chap of about 26, felt hat with a cord instead of a ribbon, neck too long, as if someone's been having a tug of war with it."

Double Entry. Everything is referred to twice. "Towards the middle of the day and at midday I happened to be on and got on to the platform [of a] bus and passenger transport vehicle which was packed and to all intents and purposes full."

Litotes (a form of speech marked by ironically minimal use of words, and in particular an expression of a positive by use of a negative—i.e. "I won't be sad...