แนะนำตัวละครสำคัญ
เหตุการณ์เกิดขึ้นที่ไหน
Macon didn’t eat real meals anymore. When he was hungry, he drank a glass of milk, or are some ice cream from the fridge. Then he began to notice that his shirt collars felt looser round his neck and the lines on his face seemed deeper. So every morning he cooked two eggs and made fresh, hot coffee. Oh, he a l was managing fine, just fine. All things considered.
But his nights were terrible.
They began all right. He would get into bed, and move the cat over. The dog, Edward, was small with very short legs, and had to be helped onto the bed. Edward then lay at his feet, while the cat lay next to his back.
Macon would sleep for a hour or two and then wake up. Little worries ran round and round his mind. Had he left the back door unlocked? Forgotten to put the milk away? Paid the gas bill?
The worries changed, grew deeper. He wondered what had gone wrong with his marriage. They were such different people — Sarah changeable and disorganized, he systematic and fixed in his routines. And when Ethan was born, he only brought out more of their differences. Pictures from Ethan’s life floated past Macon’s eyes like a film on the ceiling. At twelve he’d been a tall, fair-haired boy with an open, friendly face, and a lovable habit of jumping up and down when he was nervous.
Don’t think about it.
He was murdered in a burger bar his second night at summer camp in Virginia. It was one of those deaths that make no sense — the kind where the gunman has collected his money and is free to go but decides, instead, to shoot each and every person through the back of the head.
Blame the burger bar, blame the director of the camp, blame Sarah for allowing him to leave home, blame Macon for agreeing, blame Ethan for wanting to go, for not running, for . . .
Don’t think about it.
In the end Macon would get out of bed, drink a glass of milk, and turn on the TV. The cat would sit on his knees, and the dog usually came and lay on his feet. 'lt’s just you and me, old friends,' Macon would tell them.