Slade House

Rita Bishop, a Royal College of Music musician, is invited to Lady Norah Grayer’s home, Slade House, for a musical soirée. Struggling to support her 13-year-old son, Nathan, in the wake of her divorce, Rita hopes to network with Arts Council members and grants managers so that she can get a job. At Lady Grayer’s insistence, Rita brings Nathan, who is the narrator of this chapter.

Dressed in her finest concert clothes and hairpin decorated with a fox’s head, Rita is anxious to make a good impression on Lady Grayer. She reminds Nathan of his manners and instructs him to lie that they reached the house by taxi.

Nathan is less anxious than his mother, partly because he stole two of Rita’s Valium pills. He is surprised that Lady Grayer’s neighborhood is less affluent than he expected, situated near a pub called The Fox and Hounds on Westwood Road. The residence is accessible through a narrow path between two houses called Slade Alley.

When they enter, Nathan finds a dead cat and becomes concerned about informing the owner that their cat has died. Rita tells him to forget about it—they are late for the gathering. They search for the small black iron door that marks Slade House, but they cannot find it. When they ask a local where Slade House is, he fails to help them. They go back down the alley and find that the door was too small to notice the first time around. Rita is unable to open the door, but when Nathan puts his hand on it, it swings open.

Behind the door is a bright summer garden with Slade House at the end. Nathan briefly registers that the lot is too big to fit into the space between the alley and the next avenue, but he forgets about it. They are met by a boy around Nathan’s age who is sitting on a wall and dressed in casual clothing. The boy introduces himself as Jonah and accepts Rita’s assumption that he is Lady Norah’s son.

Soon after, Norah emerges from her home and graciously welcomes the Bishops. Nathan tells Norah about the dead cat, wondering if it belonged to her. Though Rita apologizes for Nathan’s directness, Norah reassures Nathan that they haven’t had cats for years, but he was thoughtful to be concerned for it. Norah then ushers Rita inside, hoping to introduce her to the famous violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Nathan is left behind in the garden with Jonah.

Jonah offers Nathan a damson fruit to eat. Nathan learns that Jonah doesn’t go to school but is taught at home by a “master.” Nathan tells Jonah about his father, who works in Zimbabwe (referred to by its former name, Rhodesia, in the novel) as an army trainer. Jonah reveals that his father died many years ago on a pheasant shoot.

Jonah also asks Nathan to talk about his recurring nightmare, which surprises Nathan, since he hasn’t mentioned it. Jonah guesses it has to do with the scar under his ear. Nathan doesn’t divulge that he got that scar from a bull mastiff attack, which is what he dreams about. Jonah shares that his own nightmares are about running out of food that “makes you hungrier, the more of it you eat” (18).

The two boys wander the garden without Nathan really noticing their movement. First, they are under the trees, then by the pond, then under a gingko tree. Nathan finds Jonah’s presence comforting; Jonah is the first boy in a while who hasn’t bullied Nathan for his interests. Nathan doesn’t know how much time they have spent together because he recently accidentally destroyed his antique inherited watch while trying to improve it. Jonah invites Nathan to play a game he plays with his sister—it is essentially tag, but Jonah and his sister call it fox and hounds. Nathan suggests that “hound” should be singular since there are only two players, and Jonah accepts.

Going to one side of the house to prepare for the game, Nathan sees a woman in one of the windows, speaking inaudibly to him. Nathan guesses that the woman could be saying either “no” or “go” repeatedly. Finally, Jonah calls for the game to start, so Nathan turns his attention to circumnavigating the house to try to tag Jonah before Jonah tags him.

Nathan runs around the house again and again, tearing through the brambles, until he observes that the garden has vanished into dimness. He waits for Jonah to tell him that something is wrong, but when Jonah appears, he transforms into the bull mastiff that attacked Nathan.

Nathan runs into Slade House, where Lady Norah finds him. He tells Norah about the dog, and she explains that he saw Izzy, the next-door neighbor’s dog. Nathan then tries to explain what was happening to the garden, but Norah tells him he is just imagining things. When Nathan looks out, he sees the garden and door intact. Norah sends Nathan upstairs to be with his mother and Menuhin.

Nathan hears his mother playing piano to applause. He ascends the house stairs and passes several portraits. On the first landing, Nathan finds a grandfather clock engraved with the words “TIME IS…TIME WAS…TIME IS NOT” on its face (26). He ascends the second flight of stairs and sees another set of portraits, including one of the woman he saw in the window. A voice tells him to flee, but Nathan thinks it is just the Valium playing tricks on his mind.

He continues up the steps until he finds a portrait of himself in the very clothes he is wearing. The portrait, however, has no eyes. Nathan cannot believe what he is seeing and thinks he is in a dream. He kicks the skirting board repeatedly to wake himself up. Filled with anger, he rushes through the door, where he expects to find his mother.

Nathan suddenly wakes up in his father’s house in Zimbabwe. He remembers flying there for Christmas, just as he had been telling Jonah. He is sad that Jonah was just part of his dream but is relieved that all the terrifying things he experienced in Slade House weren’t real. Nathan finds his father, Frank, at the table reading the newspaper, and Frank’s partner, Joy, prepares breakfast for Nathan. Frank instructs Joy to serve him coffee as well. Frank asks Nathan about his dream. Nathan describes Slade House and realizes that he can see the black iron door in the corner of Frank’s house. Frank explains it away as the door to his gun room.

Joy returns with Nathan’s food, and Frank urges Nathan to drink the coffee. An inner voice tells Nathan not to listen, but he drinks from the mug and sinks into it. He finds himself in a dark attic lit by a single candle. A moth flies around the flame. Nathan sees a younger Lady Norah and an older Jonah, putting them at the same age. He realizes they are twins.

The third person Nathan sees is a mirror image of himself, but he cannot move. Nathan realizes that Zimbabwe was the dream, not Slade House. The candle comes to life, engraving itself with different symbols. Jonah tells Nathan that Rita had to leave without him, and Norah laments coming back into her body, remarking how alien it feels. Jonah warns her that if something bad happened to her original body, it would irrevocably affect her soul.

The Grayer twins comment on their “previous guest,” the woman in the portrait who tried to warn Nathan. Jonah assures Norah that the woman died years ago and is harmless, but Norah worries that what is left of their guests may come back to sabotage them and escape someday. Once again, Jonah assures her that they can rely on their Blackwatermen, mercenary helpers, to retrieve their guests.

Jonah wishes that Norah would compliment his reality-altering skills, but she mocks the African lodge he constructed for being corny. Jonah notes that the deception did the job, as Nathan has already stopped breathing. Nathan panics upon seeing his mirror image in total stillness. The Grayer twins make gestures that cause the air over the candle to thicken into a red mass. The mass reaches for Nathan’s mirror image and drains his soul from his body. Nathan is amazed at how beautiful his soul looks. The Grayer twins begin sucking it in, blissfully consuming Nathan’s soul until the mirror image disappears.