Brian Church paddles out to sea in a canoe and dies

Brian Church’s death is recalled by Lucy Fly as a sudden end to the weeks in which she had privately recast herself as half Russian and imagined she was pregnant with his child. He paddles out to sea in his canoe and never returns; his body is found on the shore that evening. The death closes the episode, but Lucy’s account leaves its emotional consequences alive in her relationship with Teiji.

Background and the Weeks Before

After her encounter with Brian Church, Lucy privately calls herself Olga and names the baby she believes she is carrying Natasha. She describes those weeks as both fraught and exciting. Her belief in the pregnancy gives the imagined identity she has built around Brian a further, intimate dimension, though she later recognizes that there was no baby.

The Canoe and Brian’s Death

Caroline, Brian Church’s daughter and Lucy’s schoolfriend, fails to come to school one morning. Lucy learns that Brian had set off to sea in his canoe the previous afternoon and had not paddled back. His body washes up on the shore that evening. Lucy describes the death as suicide, a stark reversal of the days in which she had imagined a future involving him and a child.

What the Story Reveals

When the incident appears in local newspapers, Lucy discovers that Brian Church was not from Russia, as she had believed, but from the Netherlands. The correction punctures the private story she had made of him. Her imagined pregnancy proves equally unreal: there is no baby, and, in her recollection, no continuation of that brief identity as Olga.

The Story’s Aftermath with Teiji

Lucy tells the story while Teiji has an arm around her head. When she reaches Brian’s suicide, Teiji pulls away slightly; she notices her face turn cold, but falls asleep before she can understand his response. The following day there is a coolness between them. On their walk to the station, Teiji photographs her, but the shutter no longer seems like his usual unconscious gesture: he peers through the viewfinder, moves around distractedly, frowns, and takes the picture with visible reluctance.

Lucy calls Teiji’s name but cannot continue, uncertain what he thinks of her past with Brian. She considers several possible explanations for his reaction: the difference in their ages, her having slept with another man, or the possibility that Teiji sees Brian, like Sachi, as someone who should have remained in the past. She cannot restore the story to the place it occupied before she told it. Teiji’s fixed gaze suggests he may be hoping for such a reversal, but Lucy recognizes that it is beyond her control.