The Wife's Suicide

The memory of the wife's decision to leave and kill herself, a defining trauma for the man.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Night She Left

The Argument The Last Night In the early years, the man and his wife argue by the fire. She says they are not survivors but walking dead. She has taken a new lover: Death. She says she will kill herself with a flake of obsidian. The Plea The man begs her not to go, but she refuses. She says she will not say goodbye to the boy. She walks out into the dark. The man cannot stop her. The Morning After In the morning, the boy knows she is gone. He asks, and the man says yes. The boy does not cry. The man carries the memory of her 'whorish heart' and her faithlessness.

The Photograph

The Token The Billfold The man carries a billfold with a picture of his wife. One day, he sits by the roadside and takes it out. He looks at the photo, then lays it down in the road. He leaves it behind. The Memory of Her Scent He can remember everything of her save her scent. He recalls a memory of her in a theatre, holding his hand. He thinks of her as his pale bride in dreams. The Dream of Her Death He dreams that she was sick and he cared for her, but he did not take care of her and she died alone. He knows there is no other tale to tell. The dream is a guilt-ridden fantasy.

before the story begins, early years after the disaster

mid-journey