Chapter 227 Summary

Transfixed by the terrifying distractions of sight and sound, Christopher remains on the bench for “approximately five hours.” During that time, he develops a technique to deal with his fear by bringing order to the chaos around him. The most frightening part of the train arrival and departure sequence is the arrival. It sounds like sword fighting. He imposes order on that by chanting “left, right, left right” in his head to match the rhythm of the train. Then he begins peeking and gets the macro sequence down—train coming, train stopped, train going. It is 8:37 p.m. when he finally regains full awareness and stands up. He sees an electronic reader box that lists the various trains and how soon they will arrive. This gives him enough predictability to feel more comfortable.

When Christopher finally become mobile again, he realizes that Toby...