The Exchange Year and the Brother’s Death

This flow follows Joachim(Jocki)’s move to Wyoming, the death that interrupts his year abroad, and his choice to return to ordinary life there.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Leaving Schleswig

Leaving Schleswig A Need for Distance After his outburst at the Officers’ Club, Joachim(Jocki) increasingly wants to leave Schleswig. He chooses an exchange year in the United States, hoping distance will give him a different life. Unexpected Destination He had imagined California or a major city, but lands in Laramie, Wyoming, far from the urban escape he pictured.

A New Routine

A New Routine Fitting In Joachim(Jocki) joins a household with three brothers and a dog, echoing the family he left. He attends church, climbs, studies German, and works in a woodworking class. Practical Confidence The routine gives him tasks he can accomplish and social contact that does not depend on the psychiatric hospital. He begins building a version of himself away from home.

The Phone Call

The Phone Call News from Home Hermann calls to say the narrator’s second-oldest brother has died in a car crash. Joachim(Jocki) cannot find English words and uses his dictionary to tell his host family. Language Fails The simplest sentence—his brother is dead—becomes a painful search through foreign vocabulary. Shock makes his new life and old family collide in a single room.

The Funeral Return

The Funeral Return A Brief Homecoming Joachim(Jocki) flies back through several connections for the funeral. He sees his parents waiting behind glass, motionless amid the busy airport. Imagined Self He had pictured returning as a confident, athletic success. Instead, the family embraces him in grief, and the homecoming becomes a reunion with people changed by loss.

Choosing to Go Back

Choosing to Go Back Refusal to Stay Although his parents are devastated, Joachim(Jocki) chooses to return to Wyoming. His father asks once, in tears, whether he might stay, but does not stop him. Emotional Distance He rarely thinks about his brother and refuses to grieve in an expected way. Basketball, rides, school, and daily life provide a temporary shelter from bereavement.

After the narrator’s breakdown at the Officers’ Club

During the first weeks in Laramie

Several weeks into the exchange year

Four days after the call

Two weeks after the funeral