70 pages • 2 hours read
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Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Ted comes back to himself in the kitchen holding a knife. Trying to figure out how long he has been away, he realizes that he ate and drank everything in the house while he was gone. He guesses he lost three days this time. He looks around the house, unable to find Olivia. He discovers that he smashed a whiskey bottle and the nesting doll. He grabs another bottle of bourbon and a pickle.
Ted drops his pickle, and when it rolls under the refrigerator, he discovers a child’s white sandal. He hears the presence in that attic that he calls “the green boys” weeping and causing a commotion, and he yells at them to shut up. He is afraid of them. He throws away the sandal because it brings up bad memories.
Ted buries the knife in the yard instead of putting it back in the high cupboard.
Ted is gone again. Olivia turns to the Bible for guidance. When it falls from the table, it is accompanied by a terrible crashing noise, as though the world is ending. When she collects her nerves, Olivia reads the passage, which depicts Ehud driving a blade into his own stomach.
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