These are some of the time references I have been able to find in each
stage I have read. I say some of the time references because we can find verbs in
each sentence, but in this story, almost all the verbs are in present tense
since the story is related mostly in present, with some references to the past
and a short future.
1. Beginning of the story:
· You stand
on a corner looking...
· Looking at
the piece of paper…
· You turn
left, turn right…
· You stand
and look up at the house.
· You have
another look down the street.
· You knock
on the door.
We cannot know how long the action is, but we can
deduce is not much time, maybe 10 minutes.
2.
We have knocked on
the door:
· You knock
again.
· …hurting
your hand.
· The door opens.
· A guy stands...
· He turns
and yells.
· Jess moved
out weeks ago.
· The girl hesitates.
· Didn’t
even leave an address.
· I suppose
you’d better come in
· Look up
and down… wonder whether you should just leave.
As in the previous one, the action in this stage is
short, too. We find a verb in past tense in the sentence “Jess moved out weeks
ago” that allows us knowing that something was happened in the past, that is,
there was an action before the time in which the action of this scene is
located.
3.
We come into the
house:
· 'Why do you have
to do that!'
· 'Will you two shut
the fuck up.
· …we'd all
better be nice.
· 'This is
Jess' cousin.' She turns back to
you.
· She crosses
the room.
· You smile
at everyone.
· Ned nods
at the chair next to him.
· 'You're
so lucky!' Sam snarls.
· 'Something's gotta give though'
· Maybe Jess had
a point in doing a runner!
The action is occurring in a short time-frame. But there
is a sentence “Maybe Jess had a point in doing a runner” that shows us a
reference to a past time, that is, we can know there was an action in the past.
4.
We have gone to a
rally with Polly and Ned:
· Standing
on a corner, you peer into the crowd
marching past; chanting and yelling, smiling and looking around.
· Polly turns
towards you.
· You had never
been anywhere like this before.
· You could
never have guessed that your day would be like this.
· 'See Jess didn't
tell anyone anything.
· 'Wanna go get a drink?'
· You could
always go back to the house.
· 'I'll be back
in a couple of hours.'
5.
We come back to the
house.
· The lounge room is
dark.
· 'Wanna come for a swim. I'm
goin' down the pool.'
· 'I didn't
bring my bathers.'
· I'll get you
some if you want.
· 'Maybe I'll
just stay here...'
· 'Yeh, whatever. Polly's in
her room, you could go up and see her.
We can deduce it’s been two hours between the last
stage, when Jess’ cousin decides to go home because supposedly, Polly goes to
work after the rally and Ned goes to the pub, too. And both have come back home
when the main character arrives.
6.
We go to the pool
with Ned.
· Ned avoids
the main roads, leading you through
the backways.
· You follow
him.
· You shake
your head.
· Water splashes
all around him and people frown.
· A boy lets
out a howl and jumps, lands right next to Ned.
The action of this stage can be long. We don’t know
how long they have stayed in the pool. Maybe one hour, maybe four. Perhaps we can
find out the length of this action later, in the following scene. As for the
verb tenses, in this scene we only find present tense.
7.
We come back from
the pool to the house.
· 'Are you coming, Kate? '
· I thought
you said you were never going to one of Si's parties again, as long as you live.
· 'Yeh, well things have changed ok?'
· Kate snorts
and stands
· 'Well, I'll
see you there'
· 'He's such a baby. But he'll be fine in about...'
8.
We go to the party
with Ned.
· 'He knows
it ain't never gonna happen.
And if he keeps up this shit, he'll drive me out of the house too.'
· 'Ned and your cousin didn't get on too well, not at the end anyway.'
· 'He wanders
away and a few minutes later you see
him leaning over a girl.'
Since they are in a party, we can consider the action
can take maybe three hours, more or less.
9.
We are having fun
in the party.
· The crowd has
thinned and the music has got
louder.
· A group of people are heading for the door, some of them you spoke to earlier.
· 'He won't
have taken her back to our place though.'
· 'She'll
probably do it all over again.'
I think the action in this stage is short since is a
little conversation.
10.
We come back from
the party to the house.
· It'll all
still be here in the morning.
11.
The morning.
No time references.
[ Second Paper ] [ Summary
and Timeline ] [
Possible Timelines
] [ Conclusion ]
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Alícia Cerveró Fornés
acerfor@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press