Post by Tom Sorensen on Dec 20, 2023 6:04:00 GMT -5
Chapter 2 | Patsy Gets Dressed
Notice the abundance of detail that we don't need if this was just another early morning flight, or indeed any morning, like swinging out of bed. This overly detailed account is a sure sign of narrative building intended to boost confidence in her story. However, the devil is in the detail, and this is where Patsy hasn't done her homework.
Going back to her 1998 interview, she gets in trouble explaining why she dressed in yesterday's clothes. In fact, Patsy was directly challenged by Tom Haney. She states that she left her clothes the night before on the bathtub. As the floor plan shows, the bed is against the east wall of the 3rd floor, but her bathroom is located at the far west end of the extension. How could Patsy possibly reach out for her clothes from the bed?
TOM HANEY: Okay. Seems odd to me.
PATSY RAMSEY: [It's?] Early. I do this a lot.
During her interview, Patsy tries to spice up her story by first putting on fresh underwear—good girl! We're lucky to have this particular part of the interview shown in a documentary using the actual video recording by the Boulder detectives1. It shows how the dynamics of the interview are lost when being transcribed. Note the way Patsy lowers her voice when sharing her little secret about fresh underwear. A brilliant piece of acting by Patsy, who once again displays her deceptive nature.
None of her clothing habits made their way to Chapter 2, though, which I find remarkable since that's what she did "all the time." Patsy doesn't say the broken shower is why she dressed in the same clothes as the night before. She wants the reader to jump to that conclusion, and that's actually what happened to ND in his review2.
I somehow missed another clue that Patsy's story about getting dressed the morning of the 26th is bogus. It's actually right there on the first page of Chapter 2, quote:
The Death of Innocence, p. 10 (the use of italics is true to the book)
I hear John turning on the water in his bathroom and realize that it is still dark. As we always do before departing for an early morning trip, John and I will get dressed before waking up the children. Just before we're ready to leave, we'll get the kids up. Sometimes we even load them in the car in their pj's so they can resume sleeping in the airplane. Slowly the normal routine for an early morning flight comes into focus. Take a shower, get dressed, get going. I swing out of bed and abruptly remember that my shower is still broken.
Don't need one this morning, I think to myself. Just put my clothes on. And: of course, my makeup. I remember my mother's words. "Never leave the house without your makeup." Plus we are going to be with Melinda's fiancé, Stewart, so I want to make a good impression.
Got to be at the airport by 6:30 or so. Going to push us to get everyone going because time is so short. I reach for my clothes and start dressing.
Don't need one this morning, I think to myself. Just put my clothes on. And: of course, my makeup. I remember my mother's words. "Never leave the house without your makeup." Plus we are going to be with Melinda's fiancé, Stewart, so I want to make a good impression.
Got to be at the airport by 6:30 or so. Going to push us to get everyone going because time is so short. I reach for my clothes and start dressing.
In a previous post I lectured about the order of importance without pointing out this little gem where Patsy is thinking aloud, starting with: "Take a shower." Why would she need to remind us about these entirely trivial steps to begin the day? Its only purpose is to get the broken shower story going. Then, logically, skipping the shower leads her to step two: "get dressed."
Notice the abundance of detail that we don't need if this was just another early morning flight, or indeed any morning, like swinging out of bed. This overly detailed account is a sure sign of narrative building intended to boost confidence in her story. However, the devil is in the detail, and this is where Patsy hasn't done her homework.
Going back to her 1998 interview, she gets in trouble explaining why she dressed in yesterday's clothes. In fact, Patsy was directly challenged by Tom Haney. She states that she left her clothes the night before on the bathtub. As the floor plan shows, the bed is against the east wall of the 3rd floor, but her bathroom is located at the far west end of the extension. How could Patsy possibly reach out for her clothes from the bed?
TOM HANEY: What I would like to do then is with this blue marker, can you just indicate the path that you took getting out of bed and then the first stop you made, the first thing you did along that route.
PATSY RAMSEY: My clothes were probably thrown on the bathtub (INAUDIBLE).
TOM HANEY: Let me stop you there. The clothes that you say were thrown down, those were clothes you had worn the night before?
PATSY RAMSEY: Right.
PATSY RAMSEY: Right.
TOM HANEY: Okay. Seems odd to me.
PATSY RAMSEY: [It's?] Early. I do this a lot.
TOM HANEY: Now did you intend to wear those the rest of the day though or -- (MULTIPLE SPEAKERS)?
PATSY RAMSEY: Probably what I thought I would do, you know, my thinking was I have my underwear and all that is in these drawers here, so I put [my clean] underwear on, but I put the black velvet pants on [the] and the red, red top, and then we have clothes up at the lake, and I took a few things with me. You know, it was just so early, I was just going to throw on whatever I had up there. Just get in, tumble into bed and when we awake early, you know, kind of almost get ready up there. You know. I put make up on and brushed my hair but --
PATSY RAMSEY: Probably what I thought I would do, you know, my thinking was I have my underwear and all that is in these drawers here, so I put [
-- SNIP --
During her interview, Patsy tries to spice up her story by first putting on fresh underwear—good girl! We're lucky to have this particular part of the interview shown in a documentary using the actual video recording by the Boulder detectives1. It shows how the dynamics of the interview are lost when being transcribed. Note the way Patsy lowers her voice when sharing her little secret about fresh underwear. A brilliant piece of acting by Patsy, who once again displays her deceptive nature.
A note of warning: The dialog in the video does not match the transcript. I don't mean minor errors like the ones I've indicated, but the original video has been edited to shift entire statements around. I've underlined the statements we hear in the documentary, and they're not in the correct order. Check it out yourself! This shows that you must never have blind faith in these documentaries.
It's a shame we don't see her last answer in full, because Patsy's timeline is all over the place, combining yesterday's events undressing with getting dressed in the morning while throwing in her packing strategy to justify whatever she's doing. Her use of "you know" and "just" is hilarious; she's winging it big time.
None of her clothing habits made their way to Chapter 2, though, which I find remarkable since that's what she did "all the time." Patsy doesn't say the broken shower is why she dressed in the same clothes as the night before. She wants the reader to jump to that conclusion, and that's actually what happened to ND in his review2.
Despite Nancy Drew's complaints about the book being cleaned up by lawyers, the first two pages of Chapter 2 could well be the most important pages of the book to reveal the depth of Patsy's deception; it's all a pack of lies.
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