The Illustrator’s Forty Days

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

An illustrator endures unexplained daily vomiting and anonymous calls, turning a bodily mystery into a question about guilt, solitude, and interpretation.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The First Vomiting The First Vomiting from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Routine Morning Breaks An apparent consequence After drinking and sleeping with a friend’s wife, the illustrator vomits.

The First Vomiting from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Routine Morning Breaks An apparent consequence After drinking and sleeping with a friend’s wife, the illustrator vomits.

A Routine Morning Breaks An apparent consequence After drinking and sleeping with a friend’s wife, the illustrator vomits. He feels healthy and returns to work. Repetition begins A sandwich and then the next morning’s breakfast come back up. The symptom is physical but oddly detached from ordinary nausea.

A Voice on the Phone A Voice on the Phone from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". The Daily Call A name, then silence An unknown man calls, says the illustrator’s name, and hangs up. The same pattern recurs once each day.

A Voice on the Phone from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". The Daily Call A name, then silence An unknown man calls, says the illustrator’s name, and hangs up. The same pattern recurs once each day.

The Daily Call A name, then silence An unknown man calls, says the illustrator’s name, and hangs up. The same pattern recurs once each day. Two unexplained events The vomiting and calls overlap, but neither the doctors nor the narrator can establish a connection. Their coincidence becomes more disturbing than either symptom alone.

The Hotel Detour The Hotel Detour from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Escape Fails A change of setting The illustrator checks into a hotel to avoid the caller and eats normally through the day.

The Hotel Detour from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Escape Fails A change of setting The illustrator checks into a hotel to avoid the caller and eats normally through the day.

Escape Fails A change of setting The illustrator checks into a hotel to avoid the caller and eats normally through the day. He hopes the change has broken the pattern. The call returns A late-night call is followed by another bout of vomiting. He begins to wonder whether the two events open a passage for each other.

A Decision to Fight A Decision to Fight from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Refusing to Withdraw Help proves limited Doctors find no clear physical illness, psychiatrists do not take the case, and police treat the calls as too minor to…

A Decision to Fight from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". Refusing to Withdraw Help proves limited Doctors find no clear physical illness, psychiatrists do not take the case, and police treat the calls as too minor to…

Refusing to Withdraw Help proves limited Doctors find no clear physical illness, psychiatrists do not take the case, and police treat the calls as too minor to investigate. A private contest He refuses an answering machine because he would feel defeated. Instead, he decides to endure the calls and vomiting as a war of wills.

The Final Call The Final Call from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Sudden End The question changes The last caller asks, “Do you know who I am?” The illustrator cannot identify the voice or connect it to a particular wrong.

The Final Call from "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman". A Sudden End The question changes The last caller asks, “Do you know who I am?” The illustrator cannot identify the voice or connect it to a particular wrong.

A Sudden End The question changes The last caller asks, “Do you know who I am?” The illustrator cannot identify the voice or connect it to a particular wrong. No settled explanation Both vomiting and calls stop abruptly. The narrator offers possible theories but leaves responsibility for interpretation with the illustrator.

June 4, 1979

Beginning June 5, 1979

About two weeks after the symptoms begin

Around the twentieth day

July 14, 1979