The Old Custodian’s Life

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

The posthumous account of the school employee reveals a long, lonely working life that becomes entangled with Jake’s final story.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Long Tenure A Long Tenure from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". A Long Tenure A steady job The post-event conversations describe a man who worked at the school for more than thirty years.

A Long Tenure from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". A Long Tenure A steady job The post-event conversations describe a man who worked at the school for more than thirty years.

A Long Tenure A steady job The post-event conversations describe a man who worked at the school for more than thirty years. Colleagues recall no previous major incident. Routine without belonging He keeps to himself, works quietly, and appears gentle. Long employment gives him structure but does not establish close relationships.

The Truck Break The Truck Break from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". The Truck Break Retreat from coworkers The employee spends breaks sitting alone in an old pickup behind the school.

The Truck Break from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". The Truck Break Retreat from coworkers The employee spends breaks sitting alone in an old pickup behind the school.

The Truck Break Retreat from coworkers The employee spends breaks sitting alone in an old pickup behind the school. This routine allows him to withdraw from the social environment. Solitude becomes visible His truck is one of the few traces of private life colleagues remember. The habit later becomes part of the school-night imagery.

A Mind Elsewhere A Mind Elsewhere from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". A Mind Elsewhere Unusual moments A colleague remembers finding the worker standing in a science room, looking at nothing, and asking not to hear the clock.

A Mind Elsewhere from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". A Mind Elsewhere Unusual moments A colleague remembers finding the worker standing in a science room, looking at nothing, and asking not to hear the clock.

A Mind Elsewhere Unusual moments A colleague remembers finding the worker standing in a science room, looking at nothing, and asking not to hear the clock. Others recall notebooks and loud music. Concern arrives too late These behaviors seem more significant after his death, but no one asked what they meant at the time. The account exposes the limits of retrospective concern.

A Private Room A Private Room from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". A Private Room Evidence of habitation The narrator finds a room containing food, photographs, a camera, and a closet.

A Private Room from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". A Private Room Evidence of habitation The narrator finds a room containing food, photographs, a camera, and a closet.

A Private Room Evidence of habitation The narrator finds a room containing food, photographs, a camera, and a closet. The space suggests that the worker has made a private refuge within the school. A boundary crossed The room’s personal objects make the narrator’s intrusion feel like entry into a life, not merely a workplace. The school’s empty institution hides intimate traces.

Death and Misattribution Death and Misattribution from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". Death and Misattribution An employee is found dead The closing conversations describe a body discovered in a closet and a death caused by puncture wounds.

Death and Misattribution from "I'm Thinking of Ending Things". Death and Misattribution An employee is found dead The closing conversations describe a body discovered in a closet and a death caused by puncture wounds.

Death and Misattribution An employee is found dead The closing conversations describe a body discovered in a closet and a death caused by puncture wounds. The account is interwoven with Jake’s death and the school pursuit. Two stories overlap The worker’s actual history and Jake’s disguise complicate who was present in the imagined chase. The novel preserves grief while blurring the boundary between event and narrative.

More than thirty years before the discovery

During his years at the school

In the years before his death

At the time of the school ordeal

After the school events