SPOILERS!!!
The parts about Glen in the 70s are gripping. Glenn and Bethany have been living together for three years happily. Then Howard, who I totally dislike, wants to do another run and make some money, and demands Bethany be the next one to go. Glenn protests vehemently, but when Bethany learns about the drugs, she agrees to do it. Glenn volunteers to go with her, but Howard insists he should go. Glenn is not happy, but there is no way he can dissuade Bethany. Then the last day before going with Howard, Bethany says she doesn’t want to go as she is scared. Glenn is irritated, and even though he knows he should hug and tell her that she shouldn’t worry and it was right to change her mind. Yet, he snaps at her and says that it is too late. When the following morning she goes with Howard, Glenn regrets having failed to make up with Bethany. Then when Bethany and Howard return, Glenn and she apologise for what happened before the run to Paris. I have the feeling that something happened with Howard while she was away. When she returns, she shrugs off Glenn’s attempt to caress and touch her, claiming she is tired. I don’t know. I have a bad hunch, and Howard’s insistence in involving Bethany and his volunteering to go makes me think that he had an ulterior motive. There are many instances in which Bethany and Glenn have noticed Howard eyeing her, so I think that this man has done something to her, or at least, he must have tried. What I don’t understand is why Glenn still lives with Howard and lets him rule the roost, especially when Glenn doesn’t like him. I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for Bethany and Glenn.
Apart from his life in Assaouira, we also learn that the reason why he left America was because he refused to join the army in Vietnam when he was drafted. This was something that his father could understand as he supported the country and war. Lillian, his mother, understood him better, and tried to mediate between father and son. It was Lillian, who convinced Glenn to leave the country since his refusal to be drafted meant prison. Glenn was ready to face jail, but Lillian made him see that spending three years in jail was a waste, and his freedom make it possible for him to fight for what he believed in. Lillian packed a bag for him, and Ted surprised them, and as her father and mother argued, he realised that his father was not only a bully with him, but with Lillian as well. We understand that Lillian has been ill-treated for a long time. Poor Lillian. I can’t help but think of her as a young girl, head over heels in love with Ted, and then he finally goes to America to marry him, and he turns out to be nothing but a wife-beater.
