Summary

He arrives at the hotel and presents himself to the receptionist who sends him up to Edgar’s room. When Tom knocks on the door, it is opened not by Edgar but by an elderly woman. The woman explains that Edgar makes a lot of plans and it falls to her to go around cleaning up after him, alongside her employee, a man named Stephen, whom she asks to leave so that she and Tom can have a conversation. She introduces herself as Mildred Acs, Edgar’s mother. Tom recognizes her name as the author of The Outermost, the book on which Edgar’s film is going to be based. Tom presents Edgar’s copy of The Outermost to her and is embarrassed by the damage it sustained in his pocket when he was trapped in the sinkpit the night before. Mildred explains that...