Arthur’s journey to London and Allen’s unexpected return turn a planned escape into another episode of lost time: Arthur reaches the city he has long imagined as home, but Allen wakes there without knowing how he arrived or how he can get back. Their opposed responses make the journey consequential in two ways. London briefly offers Arthur belonging; for Allen, the same destination becomes a frightening proof that he cannot control where he wakes.

The escape from Ohio

Arthur decides that he needs to get away from Ohio. The opportunity depends on passports Ragen has acquired through Foley and underworld connections: one bears the name Ragen Vadascovinich, the other Arthur Smith. Arthur examines them and judges that they are either stolen and altered or exceptionally convincing forgeries, capable of withstanding close scrutiny. The false identities turn escape into a practical possibility, while also linking Arthur’s departure to the criminal contacts surrounding Ragen.

Arthur calls Pan American Airlines, books a one-way ticket to London, gathers whatever money he can find in closets, drawers, and books, and packs his bags. He is not planning a short visit: he thinks of the destination as home. His flight first takes him to Kennedy and then across the Atlantic. The journey is uneventful, and at Heathrow the customs official waves him through. Nothing in the passage interrupts Arthur’s progress; the rupture comes only after he has arrived and another personality takes over.

Arthur in London

Arthur checks into a small hotel above a pub in Hopewell Place, a name he takes as potentially prophetic. He eats alone at a small, select restaurant and takes a taxi to Buckingham Palace. He has missed the changing of the guard, but expects to see it another day. Wandering through the streets feels easy to him. He greets passers-by in familiar English expressions and imagines buying a bowler hat and an umbrella.

The comfort is specific: for the first time in his memory, people around him speak as he does. The traffic moves on the side he considers correct, and the bobbies make him feel secure. He visits the Tower of London and the British Museum, eats fish and chips with warm English beer, and plans to visit 221b Baker Street the next day, inspired by his favorite Sherlock Holmes films. He means to inspect the address and ensure that it is maintained as a fitting memorial to the detective. These small plans give his sense of arrival a future tense: Arthur is not merely passing through London but imagining himself at home there.

Allen wakes in Arthur’s place

The next morning, Allen wakes to a loudly ticking wall clock in an old-fashioned hotel room. Its iron bedstead, curlicue-patterned wallpaper, and threadbare rug make clear that it is not the kind of hotel he expects. Finding no bathroom, he goes into the hallway and then downstairs, trying to identify where he is. A man carrying a tray addresses him in a Cockney manner. Allen runs outside and recognizes the black taxis, pub sign, and traffic moving on the wrong side of the street. He understands that he is in London, but not why.

The discovery turns confusion into panic. Allen runs up and down the street, shouting and attracting attention. He is angry at himself for repeatedly waking in unfamiliar places and for being unable to control what happens. The episode reaches a crisis when he drops to his knees and beats his fists against the curb, crying and wanting to die. Then he realizes that a passing policeman might take him to a mental institution. Fear of that consequence makes him get up and return to the hotel.

In his suitcase, Allen finds the passport in Arthur Smith’s name and a receipt for a one-way ticket to London. The documents disclose the cause of his predicament: Arthur has arranged the journey, but Allen has inherited its consequences without knowing the plan. Allen calls Arthur a crazy bastard in anger, searches his pockets, and finds only seventy-five dollars. A return ticket might cost three or four hundred. He begins packing Arthur’s clothes to check out, then deliberately leaves the luggage and clothes behind, deciding that Arthur can suffer the loss.

The improvised return

Allen takes the passport and one-way ticket to Heathrow, trying to work out how to get home on the way. At the airport he adopts a hurried explanation: he claims that he got off a plane at the wrong time, was drugged, and left his ticket, luggage, and traveler’s checks aboard. He repeats the story to the staff, presenting himself as stranded rather than as someone who knowingly arrived in London on a one-way ticket. A guard calms him and takes him to the passport-control office, where Allen continues pleading for help and insists that he has money at home and will repay the fare.

An official offers to put him on standby for a return flight to the States, with payment due after he gets home. Allen agrees. He keeps talking until the staff, apparently eager to get him off their hands, put him on a 747. He is relieved when he reaches his seat, fastens his safety belt, and stays awake reading every magazine on board because he does not trust himself to sleep. On arrival in Columbus, a security official drives him to Lancaster, where Allen retrieves money from paintings he had sold. It is hidden behind a loose board in a broom closet. He uses it to pay for the return ticket and thanks his escort, praising Pan Am’s understanding and promising to write to the company president.

Return without resolution

Back alone in the apartment, Allen becomes very depressed and tries to communicate with Arthur. It takes a long time before Arthur comes out. When he sees that he is no longer in London, he refuses to have anything to do with anyone. The return has therefore restored Allen to familiar surroundings without repairing the division between them. Arthur’s imagined home and Allen’s desperate journey back remain sharply opposed: one has crossed an ocean toward belonging, while the other has crossed it merely to regain a place from which he still cannot control his own life.