Christmas

Christmas marks a brief, sharply contrasting stretch of the story: on December 24, Dom Corvaisis wakes after another night without his recurring sleepwalking, while Jorja Monatella moves through an unsettled afternoon in Las Vegas as Marcie looks forward to Christmas traditions. The chapter heading spans Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but the scenes represented here center on Christmas Eve and the different hopes and troubles its approach brings into view.

The Holiday Frame

The narrative identifies this section as Christmas Eve–Christmas Day and dates Dom’s morning scene to Tuesday, December 24, at eight o’clock. A later scene takes place that afternoon in Jorja’s Las Vegas. Together, these temporal markers establish the holiday as a shared point in the story’s chronology, even as the evidence here concentrates on Christmas Eve rather than recounting Christmas Day itself.

Dom’s Christmas Eve Morning

Dom gets out of bed in a haze from the lingering effects of Valium and Dalmane. For the eleventh consecutive night, he has experienced neither sleepwalking nor the nightmare involving the sink. The apparent relief comes at a cost: he has been exceeding his prescribed dosage and has lied to Dr. Cobletz, inventing a break-in so he can obtain another prescription after nearly running out of pills. He recognizes the deception at times, but the haze of continued tranquilization lets him soften its meaning to himself. Set on Christmas Eve, the morning scene makes the holiday a measure of ordinary time continuing around a problem that has not been resolved, only suppressed.

Jorja and Marcie Before Nightfall

That afternoon, Jorja is not yet in the Christmas spirit. Usually even-tempered, she is unusually sour as she walks back and forth through the casino, carrying drinks between the bar and the blackjack tables. Marcie, by contrast, is absorbed in the approaching holiday. She asks her mother what day it is and accepts that it is almost Christmas Eve; before it grows dark, her aunt will give them cookies to take home. Marcie also recounts the playful story that Santa has begun his journey and the teasing promise that, because she has been bad, she may receive a necklace made of coal. Jorja reassures her that the teasing is only teasing. Their exchange gives the date a child’s festive anticipation, set against Jorja’s mood and Dom’s uneasy pharmaceutical reprieve.