Father's suicide

Ben Ellison’s suicide, after four heart attacks, ends his life in a stark contrast between private death and the family’s matter-of-fact response. Agnes Ellison is away at her bridge club when he shoots himself on an unseasonably warm February evening; afterward, she calls their children one by one to tell them to come home for his funeral.

Circumstances

The suicide follows a history of four heart attacks. The first had occurred after Ben Ellison leaned back and suffered an attack; he told his son to stay relaxed and go get help. The later account places the suicide on an unseasonably warm February evening, while Agnes Ellison is away meeting with her bridge club.

Family Response

The narrator says Ben Ellison’s suicide apparently came as no surprise to Agnes Ellison. She calls each of the children in order of age and gives them the same instruction: “You must come home for your father’s funeral.” The repeated message turns the immediate aftermath into a sequence of practical summons rather than an account of the family’s grief; the passage does not explain the circumstances behind Agnes Ellison’s reaction.