The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Chapters 199 - 227 Summary

Christopher is still on the train hiding behind a piece of luggage, on a shelf beside the bathroom. He is trying to decide when he should get off the train. He needs know two things, one is if the policeman, who wants to return him to his father, is still on the train and the other is if the train has reached London. He tries to picture a map of Britain in his mind, to help him decide if the train has reached London. He decides, after a while, to try to leave the shelf, find his bag, and leave the train.

He sees his bag is gone, as are all the people who were on the train with him; the only other person in the train car is a policeman, who is not the man who boarded the train looking for him. The policeman is looking under the seats of the train car. Christopher leaves the car undetected by the policeman and is thrust in among a large group of people in the train station. As he is walking towards a gate at the end of the track, he is stopped by a man who tells him the police are looking for him. Christopher walks away as the man is telling the police he has found him.

This experience makes Christopher feel as if a balloon is inside his chest and it causes him pain. He can't deal with all of the sensory overload of the train station, so he covers his ears and groans to block out the sounds of the station. He tries to close his eyes to block out the sights, which cause his brain to work improperly, this helps him to refocus his mind. He eventually finds the information desk and is directed from there to the Underground system, which is a subway system. He hopes to find his mother, by using the Underground system, and once again feel safe.

The problem is the underground system is confusing and noisy, which causes him to feel sick. He sits on a bench near the train track for five hours trying to cope with sounds of the trains, the crush of people, and his fear of trying something new.

When he finally decides it is time to discover which train to take to reach his mother, he realizes Toby is missing from his pocket. He looks around and sees Toby on the train tracks. Christopher doesn't realize the tracks are dangerous, all he wants to do is retrieve his pet. He drops down from the concrete platform onto the tracks to reach Toby, who doesn't want to be caught. As he is trying to catch Toby, a man in a green raincoat sees him and tells Christopher to get off the tracks. Christopher ignores him, until he hears a train approaching. He has finally caught Toby, but can't pull himself off the tracks. The man reaches down and pulls him up to the platform; saving Christopher's life. His thanks for saving Christopher's life is Christopher screaming, because the man touched him.

After being saved, by the man in the green coat, Christopher boards a train and travels to Willesden Junction. There he asks a shopkeeper for directions to his mother's house, but instead the man sells him a book called LONDON AZ Street Atlas and Index, Geographer's A-Z Map Company. Christopher uses this book to map a route to his mother's home.

He arrives there only to find she is not at home, so he and Toby find their way into the alley next to her apartment building and wait for her to return home. She arrives back at the building at 11:32 pm, after Christopher has been sitting in the cold and rain waiting for her. She is stunned to find him there and her boyfriend, Mr. Shears, is not too happy to see Christopher, because he knows Christopher's father will probably arrive soon looking for Christopher.

Christopher tells them he is afraid to live with his father, because he killed Wellington. Then he tells her and Mr. Shears he wants to live with them. He also informs his mother the reason he never wrote her is because his father told him she was dead. She is stunned by this piece of information and she is very angry with her husband.

She manages to persuade Christopher to change into some dry clothes and eat tomato soup. While he is eating the soup, a policeman arrives at the apartment looking for Christopher. He wants to make sure he is safe and tells him his father wants him to come home. But Christopher tells him he will not go home, because he doesn't feel safe there. He states he wants to stay with his mother, after ascertaining his mother agrees to Christopher's plan, the policeman leaves.

At 2:31 a.m. Christopher's father shows up at the apartment intent on taking his son home with him. But Christopher's mother will not let him take the boy and Mr. Shears tells Christopher's father to leave. The fight escalates between the two, as they try to decide who is the more involved parent. Christopher's father apologizes to Christopher, but he will not respond to him, because he is still frightened of him. Mr. Shears calls the police and they remove Christopher's father from the apartment. Christopher, for now is being allowed to stay with his mother.

Christopher, though frightened and being sought by the police, manages to find his way to his mother's apartment. She is shocked to find he has thought she is dead. She and Christopher's father argue over who has taken more responsibility for Christopher, but in the end he stays with his mother. Christopher fights to overcome his fears to find his mother, who he feels is the one person he can count on to keep him safe.



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