Summary

Bartle spends up to entire weeks sleeping after returning home to Richmond, sometimes seeing no other people. When he does leave the house, it's to walk two miles round trip along train tracks to G.W.’s country store to buy beer. If he sees a vehicle outside the store, he waits until the owner leaves to avoid any contact. After, he puts the beer into his closet and walks into the kitchen to gaze out at the pond. He thinks about his childhood when older children teased him. He thinks about his current depression.

In August, for the first time, Bartle wakes up wishing he hadn’t. He says he doesn’t want to kill himself, only fall asleep and never wake up. A high school friend calls to invite Bartle with a group to the river the next day, but Bartle doesn...