Summary

In this chapter, the elderly Claudia begins to lose her hold on the passage of time. Laszlo, Lisa and Sylvia visit her over the course of three days and Claudia combines them all into one day. Claudia meditates on the fact all people are hinges linking other people, sometimes incongruously. She reflects also on the modern day’s waning sense of the apocalyptic. She remembers the fear of nuclear war that plagued her throughout the Cold War. Claudia remarks her fear was made more potent by being a mother; though she lacked conventional maternal instincts, she was filled with worry and anxiety about the world for the sake of her daughter like any mother. The narrative transitions to a memory of being in a taxi with Gordon and Sylvia two days before Gordon’s death. Gordon, whose death is imminent, is given leave by his doctors...