How would you interpret this sentence?
“Do you happen to know his income?”
“For goodness’ sake. He’s a writer. He couldn’t say himself what it’s going to be, month to month. Do you know what books people will buy next year?”
How would you interpret this sentence: He couldn’t say himself what it’s going to be, month to month?
Did the speaker mean ‘he’ couldn’t know how much he would earn next month?
PS: The first speaker was from FBI. And the second one was a secretary of a writer. They were talking about the secretary’s boss, the writer.
Thanks! And it’s from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.