Why I'm Not Where You Are (5/21/63) Summary

Thomas Schell writes to his unborn child about how silence overtakes him when he first arrives in America and tries to pronounce Anna's name. He loses all his words, the last one "I." He writes his communications in blank books and carries them around to show others. He burns the book that has "ha, ha, ha" in it.

Thomas cannot speak by the time he meets the unborn child's mother, who sits at his booth and chatters. Thomas writes that he does not speak. She writes back, "Please marry me." He flips back to "Ha ha ha!", and she flips forward to her request. They flip back-and-forth until she points at "please." Thomas thinks about losing the one person he could have lived with and the tons of marble he has abandoned. Feeling...