The Journalist and the Dead Friend

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

A story of young love, loss, and missed communication follows the narrator from a high-school friend’s suicide to an unresolved adult attachment.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Friend Who Held the Group Together

A Natural Host A social center The narrator’s friend keeps conversations moving and makes ordinary life feel adventurous. The narrator and the friend’s girlfriend are awkward whenever he leaves. A fragile triangle The narrator’s role as the quiet third person becomes important after the friend’s sudden absence, though he does not understand that yet.

The Last Afternoon The Last Afternoon from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Pool and Parting An ordinary meeting The narrator and his friend play pool after skipping school. The friend wins most of the games and acts as usual.

The Last Afternoon from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Pool and Parting An ordinary meeting The narrator and his friend play pool after skipping school. The friend wins most of the games and acts as usual.

Pool and Parting An ordinary meeting The narrator and his friend play pool after skipping school. The friend wins most of the games and acts as usual. A death that follows That night the friend dies by suicide in his garage. The narrator cannot reconcile the ordinary afternoon with the finality of what follows.

The Girlfriend’s Silence The Girlfriend’s Silence from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Meeting Without Their Friend An awkward conversation The narrator meets the bereaved girlfriend to discuss something practical.

The Girlfriend’s Silence from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Meeting Without Their Friend An awkward conversation The narrator meets the bereaved girlfriend to discuss something practical.

A Meeting Without Their Friend An awkward conversation The narrator meets the bereaved girlfriend to discuss something practical. Once it is done, they have almost nothing to say. A suspected reproach He wonders whether she is angry because he was the last to see the dead boy. His guilt and uncertainty keep him from asking directly.

The Twentieth Birthday The Twentieth Birthday from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Words Run Out A long monologue The girlfriend talks for hours about her life, while the narrator waits uneasily and struggles to find a way to leave.

The Twentieth Birthday from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Words Run Out A long monologue The girlfriend talks for hours about her life, while the narrator waits uneasily and struggles to find a way to leave.

Words Run Out A long monologue The girlfriend talks for hours about her life, while the narrator waits uneasily and struggles to find a way to leave. Tears and intimacy When her words finally stop, she weeps. The narrator holds her, and they sleep together, though he does not know whether this is comfort or a new mistake.

A Letter and a Firefly A Letter and a Firefly from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". An Unfinished Farewell Departure for treatment The woman writes that she is leaving school and going to a sanatorium.

A Letter and a Firefly from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". An Unfinished Farewell Departure for treatment The woman writes that she is leaving school and going to a sanatorium.

An Unfinished Farewell Departure for treatment The woman writes that she is leaving school and going to a sanatorium. She thanks the narrator but cannot explain everything she feels. A light beyond reach His roommate gives him a firefly. Its fading glow becomes an image for memory that remains visible after the thing itself has disappeared.

During the narrator’s high-school years

A May afternoon near the end of high school

Three months after the funeral

A rainy night in June, months after the death

The following summer, after she leaves college