Condolence book

The condolence book at Gage Creed's funeral is a blank, imitation-leather volume in which mourners are asked to sign their names and addresses, a custom Louis Creed finds absurd and meaningless in the face of his son's death.

Appearance and Placement

The book is placed on a stand at the head of the aisle inside the East Room of the Brookings-Smith Mortuary, just inside the door giving onto the foyer-lounge. A ballpoint pen is chained to the stand. The cover is blank, unlike the "MY WEDDING DAY" book with its imitation gold leaf that Louis and Rachel received at their wedding. The funeral director positions Louis beside the stand so he can "greet his friends and relatives" as they sign.

Louis's Reaction

Louis finds the entire custom mad. He wonders what to call the book — "MY DEATHBOOK? FUNERAL AUTOGRAPHS? THE DAY WE PLANTED GAGE?" — or perhaps something more dignified, like "A DEATH IN THE FAMILY." He turns the book back to its cover, which is blank, and thinks of the other keepsake books he has accumulated: a high school yearbook, a college yearbook, a med school yearbook, the wedding book, and a baby book for Ellie that they tired of adding to quickly because it was "just too relentlessly cute." Now this one is added to all the others.

The Signing

Missy Dandridge is the first to arrive. After Louis comforts her, he calls her back to sign the book, thinking "Mystery guest, sign in please" and nearly breaking into hysterical laughter. He asks her to sign "For Rachel." She signs for herself and her husband — "Mr. and Mrs. David Dandridge" — in round Palmer-method script, adding their address: "Rural Box 67, Old Bucksport Road." She then raises her eyes to Louis's and quickly drops them, as if her very address on the road where Gage died constitutes a crime. Following the Dandridges, all the mourners come in a shuffling line, and Louis receives their handshakes, hugs, and tears. He makes sure each one signs the book. The only exceptions are Irwin and Dory Goldman, who refuse to sign. Louis notices this and thinks, "You didn't sign the book."