Summary

The chapter titled “1996” continues: Ellis goes to the home shared by Len and his long-term partner, Dora, to check on the heat while they are on vacation. While at the house, Ellis recalls Dora’s excited explanation of the sunflower painting and other artistic methods to Ellis and Michael. During their childhoods, Michael had been especially fond of Dora, who served as a sort of substitute for Michael’s own missing mother.

Ellis recalls how, when he was 14 years old, he saw Dora being increasingly distracted and weary. Ellis learned from Mabel that Dora had a lethal disease, and Mabel proceeded to teach him a number of common household chores. Two months later, Dora passed away. At the funeral, Ellis is distraught, and ends up going for a walk, and ends up at a park alongside a river, known as Long Bridges. Michael...