And Here Tecumseh Fell Summary

Ten years have passed and Vanessa has come home for Christmas to find her parents waiting for her at the airport. They stand side by side as they always have and it strikes her as somehow sad that they seemed to be one person, not two separate personalities. They exchange the usual pleasantries and ask about her progress in grad school in California and let her know that Lisa and her little girl, Amy, will be home from Boston tomorrow morning.

At home nothing much seems changed; drinks before dinner, her mother in pearls. Nobody has brought up the fact that Grandpa Nye is dying in the hospital, where he has been for several weeks ever since Aunt Janice deposited him there. The housekeeper, Eugenie, is the only one with enough courage to speak of it and...