Summary

These chapters set in 2009 are the characters’ last. The final section is simply the words, “Come, dust.” The first chapter focuses on Vern. His daughter, Becky, is taking him to watch a soccer match in a VIP box. Vern had a triple bypass operation sometime after 1994, and Becky took him into her home afterwards. Despite living together, “they don’t know each other at all well” (261). Becky has forced Vern to live healthier and he now weighs much less than he has for most of his life. Vern’s attitude remains hostile, though, which is apparent in how he talks with Becky through the chapter and his general lack of appreciation for her efforts. Once in the VIP box, Vern looks at the skyline and thinks, “There it is. Enough of it at once, in one glance, in one gulp at the skyline...