Chapter 179
Christopher hides until dawn, and when he hears his father looking for him in the morning, he squeezed himself between the wall of the shed and the fence and covers himself with the fertilizer sack. When his father leaves in the van, he knows it is safe to come out. He knew he couldn't live with his father anymore so he decides to live with Mrs Shears, but she doesn't answer the door when he knocks.
He decides that going to live with Mother in London was the best option. He knocks on Mrs Alexander's door and asks her to look after Toby, and tells her where he is going and why. Mrs Alexander tries to persuade him to come in and talk, and she suggests ringing his father. Christopher runs away, breaking into his own house. After picking up enough provisions for himself and Toby, he sets off for the train to London.
Chapter 181
Christopher explains that the reason why he doesn't like new places is because he notices everything and when you notice everything in a new place your head feels full and you sometimes feel as though you need to reboot it, like when you press CTRL, ALT and DEL on the computer.
Chapter 191
At the train station, Christopher feels 'giddy and sick' because of all the new things he notices and because of all the people walking around. Christopher calms himself down by - among other things - distracting himself with math problems, putting his hands over his ears and pretending he is in a computer game. After a while a policeman comes up to him and tells Christopher that he has been there for two and a half hours and was acting like he was in a trance. Christopher feels safer with the policeman and answers all of his questions. The policeman takes him to the ATM to get money for the train, and shows him where to get his ticket. Christopher then walks through a difficult underpass and boards the train.
Chapter 193
Christopher explains why he likes timetables and that on weekends he makes a timetable for himself so that he knows what is going to happen. He says he likes them because 'they make sure you don't get lost in time.'
Analysis:
For the first time in the novel, the mystery is not Christopher's to solve, but Christopher's to pose; he now has all the answers, and everyone back home must figure out where he has gone. Christopher is no longer the detective, but the detected.
This is the first time Christopher is outside his hometown. This is the second time we see Christopher with a policeman and it is interesting that his views about them have not been tainted by the previous experience: Christopher is pleased to see him because he still associates policemen with order, despite his negative recent encounter.
