Entwined Short Story PDF

Entwined Short Story by Brian Tobin A fatal collision leads to shocking aftereffects for...

Entwined Short Story by Brian Tobin A fatal collision leads to shocking aftereffects for NOTICE & NOTE As you read, use the side everyone involved. margins to make notes about the text. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©Ocskay Bence/Shutterstock 1 2 O n September 12, 1994, in my second week of college, I killed Russell Gramercy. In the last eighteen years, how often have I gone over it all? Pearl Jam, the orange traffic cones, the young woman in white short shorts, the sound of kids playing, and then... 3 I had been driving alone back to my dorm from the lake. Despite what people claimed later, I had not been drinking—not one drop. I want to be clear about that. Even though there were coolers full of beer at our blanket, I was not intoxicated. It was about five-thirty on a beautiful balmy afternoon, the last twinge of summer in upstate New York. I wasn’t speeding, nor was I driving in a “careless, reckless, or negligent manner,” which is the criteria for negligent homicide. negligent (n≈g´l∆-j∂nt) adj. characterized by paying little attention to or failing to care for properly. Entwined 201  4 A song I loved, Pearl Jam’s “Alive,” came on the radio, and I took my hand off the two position of the ten-and-two driving stance I had so recently been taught in driver’s ed. I reached down and turned the volume up from loud to really loud. I was barely aware of the pedestrians on the sidewalk; they were indistinct, background. Vaguely I registered the sign ROAD WORK AHEAD. However, my registering Daria Gramercy’s figure was anything but vague. She was wearing white short shorts; seen from behind, she was breathtaking. This figure of lust (I can’t describe it in any nicer way that reflects better on me) was walking with two males. All three had been forced to abandon the sidewalk that paralleled Beach Road because of construction—for fifty yards the sidewalk had been jackhammered and it was cordoned off with orange traffic cones and yellow caution tape. Later, when I went back to the scene, I saw the clearly marked signs that warned pedestrians to cross to the other side of the road, that clearly told them not to walk on the shoulder. Weren’t those signs implicit—no, definite—warnings that to proceed was dangerous? 5 At the time, I have to admit, I didn’t notice those signs. Even though the radio was blaring “Alive,” I could also faintly hear children playing: a Pee Wee League soccer match was just beginning. 6 If only it could have stopped there. If only I could go back in time and slam the brake pedal, so that nothing more would have happened except Pearl Jam, the orange traffic cones, the young woman in white short shorts, the sound of kids playing. Then it all would have just faded, one of millions of trivial sense memories that disappeared. 7 But time didn’t stand still. ANALYZE CHARACTERIZATION 8 My car—actually, the 1979 Impala my father had handed down Annotate: In paragraphs 8 and to me—was going around forty miles per hour. I know I lied about it 9, mark the details the narrator later to the police, telling them that I was doing the posted thirty-five, describes. but I can honestly say I was going about forty. At that speed, a car Infer: What can you infer travels fifty-nine feet a second. (In my support group, everyone, every about the narrator from his last person regardless of education, has done the calculations, the feet observations? per second, the reaction times.) The three figures on the road outside the cones and caution tape, one with an extremely sexy sashay, were approaching rapidly. (I know they weren’t approaching, that in fact I was overtaking them, but that’s how it seemed to me.) And then the largest of them, a man in khaki shorts, a navy blue T-shirt, and Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers, stumbled beyond the white line into the © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company road. Into the path of my thirty-five-hundred-pound lethal weapon going fifty-nine feet per second. 9 What happened took only milliseconds. There was a sickening jolt to the car; Russell Gramercy flew up over the hood. His shoulder and head shattered my windshield, then he disappeared over the roof of the Impala. I did not slam on the brakes until he had already landed on the highway behind me. 202 UNIT 3 ANALYZE & APPLY CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A 10 There was a faint whiff of something burnt—my tires on the Don’t forget to asphalt—and Pearl Jam was still playing on the radio. Behind me Notice & Note as you read the text. someone was howling in pain and grief. “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” Daria Gramercy. 11 Everything seemed in a heightened sense of unreality. I got out of the Impala, but immediately someone yelled, “Hey, put your car in gear.” So I got back in the car, which was slowly rolling, and did so, also turning off the engine. I noticed glass on the passenger’s side seat; in the next moment I realized that little shards of glass, almost festively decorative, covered my shirt as well. 12 The body lay in the road fifty yards away—I had traveled half a football field after hitting him. Another pedestrian stood in the middle of the road behind Daria and the victim, waving a hot-pink beach towel to stop oncoming traffic. 13 Racing back, I thought, He’ll have some broken bones. He may have to go to the hospital. Daria was leaning over her father, whimpering. 14 Then I got a clear view of Russell Grammercy’s body. This wasn’t a case of some broken bones. His entire body was broken. One shoulder and arm were tilted at an impossible angle away from the rest of him. Blood was pooling behind his head, which also seemed... broken. Daria said, “Hold on, Dad. Hold on.” But it was obvious to me that he could not hear, would never hear again. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©Leonard Ortiz/Digital First Media/Orange County Register/Getty Images Entwined 203  15 And... I’m not proud of this, but I want to tell you exactly what it was like. Daria, in an attempt to stanch the ever-expanding pool of blood behind her father’s head, took off her pale green sleeveless T-shirt and used it to compress the wound. She wore a white bikini top underneath. My eyes were drawn to her chest. 16 I had just killed a man, and I was ogling the daughter I had made an orphan. 17 There was probably a gap of time, but it seems to me now that the police cruiser arrived very quickly with short yelps of the siren and strobing of the Visibar. Walkie-talkies squawked, an ambulance came; someone shifted the cones from the sidewalk construction to the road. Daria was sobbing in the arms of her older brother, Chris. With a start, I realized I knew Chris; I had played baseball against him. Which meant I knew the victim as well. 18 Russell Gramercy was the coach of the Verplanck American Legion League baseball team of which his son, Chris, was the star pitcher. Russell Gramercy was also a chemistry professor at Howland College, the school I had just started two weeks earlier, though I wasn’t in any of his classes. The previous year, the American Legion team I was on had played against Verplanck. Chris had been pitching, and he struck me out twice. He was by far the best player in our area, and scouts from the majors as well as LSU and Arizona State had shown interest in him. His father coached him that day, and I remembered Russell Gramercy putting his arm around Chris’s shoulder with pride as he came off the field with another victory. 19 “Are you okay?” the paramedic asked me at one point. “Are you injured?” 20 “No, I’m fine,” I replied, knowing even then that it was a lie, though there was nothing physically wrong. 21 Later, as the first ambulance took Russell Gramercy away, I asked the same paramedic, “He’s going to be okay, isn’t he?” 22 He stared back at me, then, masking his true feelings, said, “Well, we can only pray.” After that, on instructions from one of the cops, he took my blood for a blood alcohol level test. 23 I gave my statement to three different police officers. The last one, a detective named Dave Pedrosian, interviewed me for a long time. 24 Pedrosian also questioned Chris and Daria. She had not seen the © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company actual impact because she had been walking a few feet in front of her brother and father on the narrow shoulder. “I just heard this awful crunch, and by the time I turned around my dad was landing on the pavement,” I overheard her say. And then she lost control and gave loud gasping sobs. Her brother put his arms around her. 25 At some point I also heard Chris being interviewed. “We were walking and my father sort of stumbled. I don’t know if he twisted his ankle or what. But he veered into the road. I reached out to grab him, but then... just this unbelievable impact with that car...” 204 UNIT 3 ANALYZE & APPLY  26 What I remember most were his next words. “The car just Don’t forget to slammed him. It was so fast. My dad never had a chance. And neither Notice & Note as you read the text. did the driver. It would have been impossible to react. It wasn’t his fault.” 27 Right after a cop gave me my second field sobriety test and first Breathalyzer, Chris came up to me. I was wary and I half expected him to take a swing at me. But in a dazed voice he told me, “There was nothing you could have done. Don’t beat yourself up. It was just a horrible accident.” He turned and walked back to his sister, who glared at me with eyes filled with anger and hate. 28 Detective Pedrosian came by in a while and said, “You‘re not going to be charged at this time. All the preliminary statements support yours. A collision-reconstruction unit will continue to investigate. If everything holds up, you will not be charged. Your father is here to drive you home.” 29 On the ride home, back to my childhood bedroom, not my new dorm room, I kept saying, “It happened so fast. There was nothing I could do.” 30 Russell Gramercy was declared DOA at Verplanck Hospital at about that same time. 31 The next few days I spent in my bedroom or, when my parents went to work, roaming the house. I couldn’t eat, sleep, watch television. Both my parents kept telling me that it wasn’t my fault, that it had been an accident. I shouldn’t blame myself. 32 My father initially insisted that I go to the Gramercy family home. 33 “And do what? Upset them more? Apologize for killing their father?” I did not want to face them, in particular Daria. 34 “Just tell them how sorry you are for their loss,” my mother replied. 35 I had already put on my suit and was waiting for my parents to drive me to a condolence visit that I wasn’t sure I could endure when condolence the phone rang. A few minutes later my father came into the living (k∂n-d∫´l∂ns) n. sympathy with a room and said, “We’re not going.” person who has experienced pain, grief, or misfortune. 36 The relief I felt was immense. 37 “Of course we are,” my mother said. 38 “The insurance adjuster just called. He said we’re not to have any contact with the victim’s family.” © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 39 The victim. His name was Russell Gramercy. He was a beloved father, a husband, a coach, a teacher. And we weren’t using his name. He was the victim. And I was the person who had killed him. 40 “That’s just not right,” my mother complained. 41 “He’s on our insurance policy,” my father said, nodding toward me. “We could lose the house, our savings. Everything. Even a frivolous case could cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars.” 42 So in the end we didn’t go. And I did not apologize. 43 The funeral was private, so I didn’t go to that either. But when I returned to Howland College two days later, one of the first things I noticed was a flier about a memorial service. Entwined 205 CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A 44 Howland College is a small liberal arts college in Verplanck, New York, twenty miles from my hometown. Its academic reputation is slight, its campus charmless—buildings of red brick and glass, dormitories that look like singles’ apartments. In my area it was the ultimate backstop school, the place you wound up when your other scholastic plans didn’t pan out. 45 That next weekend hundreds of students milled about in the quad. I was handed a slender white candle that reminded me of fencing foil. People kept glancing my way, it seemed to me with disgust or pity. Right before the service I overheard two students in front of me talking. 46 “I heard the kid who ran over Gramercy goes to school here.” 47 “Yeah,” his companion replied. “A freshman. Apparently some pathetic loser.” 48 Hymns were sung. Speakers came up to a makeshift stage and talked about Russ or Professor G. It was heartfelt, moving, filled with the inadequate words we use when confronted with death. Some were amazingly articulate, others spoke badly, but their clichés and boilerplate emotions were overlooked because of a collective goodwill and understanding. One person read a poem that somehow felt familiar, and it was only years later that I realized he had cribbed the W. H. Auden work from the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. 49 One speaker stood out for me. “I’m a doctor,” he began. “And last week, on the day that Russell died, I saved a life.” He went on to recount that if it hadn’t been for the extraordinary work of Russell Gramercy, he would never have passed his organic chemistry course, the bane of all premed students. Gramercy had tutored him, made clear the obscure, gone way above and beyond for him. “It’s a simple calculus for me. If it wasn’t for Professor Gramercy, I wouldn’t be a doctor. If I wasn’t a doctor, that patient would not have been saved. That spared life, and everything good in it, can be toted up to Russ. NOTICE & NOTE 50 “There are connections in our lives that we’re often not aware of. WORDS OF THE WISER We’re entwined. We intersect, like chains, or strands of DNA.” When you notice a wiser character 51 I did not speak at the service. giving advice to the main 52 By November I had left college. I eventually moved to New York character, you’ve found a Words City; it is a place where not driving a car is the norm. My driver’s of the Wiser signpost. license expired when I was twenty-one; I did not renew it, nor have I Notice & Note: Mark the insight ever driven a car again after that day I killed Professor G. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company offered in paragraph 50. 53 Nightmares plagued me for a decade, though they diminished Infer: What life lesson is given over time. For years I had to wear an orthodontic device because I here? How might it relate to the ground my teeth in my sleep. story’s theme? 54 In my early twenties I aimlessly worked boring, dead-end jobs. Then, when it became clear that I was not going to resume my education, my father gave me the fifty thousand dollars he claimed he would have spent on tuition. So I started a small business, a frozen- yogurt shop in the West Village that I can walk to. It is a modest success. 206 UNIT 3 ANALYZE & APPLY  55 I never married. Relationships never seemed to survive the moment I had to confess to the accident. The fault for these failed courtships, I’m sure, is mine. For the most part, the women I’ve been involved with were understanding, compassionate. (Though one woman got so angry that she slapped me.) But no matter the degree of their empathy, I always sensed in their eyes a change. In how they empathy viewed me. (!m´p"-th#) n. the ability to 56 Years ago, at one of my lousy, mind-shriveling jobs, a coworker identify with or understand the perspective, experiences, or asked all the people gathered around the break table, “What’s the motivations of another individual © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©Robert Adrian Hillman/Shutterstock most memorable or important moment of your life?’’ The answers and to comprehend and share were predictable: When I met my husband; When I gave birth to my another individual’s emotional daughter. Or humorous: When I felt up Gina Simmons in sixth grade, state. or It hasn’t happened yet, but it will be when I get fired from this job. When it was my turn, I was set to lie: It was when the Giants won the Super Bowl. Instead, I shocked myself by replying, “When I killed a man.” 57 There was laughter around the table, and my questioner added, quoting Johnny Cash, “When you shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die?” 58 “Yeah,” I answered, relieved. Although I knew that, unlike most people, I actually had a moment in my life that had irrevocably irrevocably changed me. ($-r!v´"-k"-bl#) adv. in a way that is 59 So that was my existence. Constrained, nowhere near having impossible to retract or revoke. fulfilled a potential. I always thought that there had been more than one victim that day, though I would never say that aloud. And certainly not to the family, not to the woman who had whimpered and sobbed by the side of Beach Road. Nor to her tall, athletic brother, who had once struck me out. Entwined 207 CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A 60 In April 2011 the first body was discovered. 61 Russell Gramercy’s widow had sold the lakeside cabin months earlier. In upstate New York, the small vacation homes that dot the many lakes are called camps. The Gramercy camp, sheathed with cedar clapboards, was small, only sixteen by twenty-four, and had a half loft. It had been in the family for generations. Russell Gramercy winterized the structure himself early in his marriage. He liked to go there to unwind, he said, to write academic articles and prepare lessons and presentations. Except for a week or two in the summer when he was accompanied by his family, he went to the camp alone. 62 The new owners had no interest in rustic simplicity or outdoor showers. An architect drew up plans for some garish monstrosity. It was a backhoe operator digging trenches for the McMansion’s new septic system that had uncovered the skeleton. 63 (A rumor went around that the new owners, with visions of construction delays and permit problems, tried to talk the construction workers out of reporting the discovery. I’m not sure I believe this. What is true is that they sued the Gramercy family.) 64 In the weeks after the grisly find, the police dug up eight other corpses. All but one were identified, and I can reel off the names by ineffably memory. I find it ineffably sad that the ninth victim could not be (∆n-≈f´∂-bl∏) adv. in a way named. Had nobody in his short life felt connected enough to report that cannot be expressed; him missing? indescribably or unutterably. 65 There were eight male victims and one female. Four of them were runaways. Two were thought to have been hitchhiking, a boyfriend and girlfriend, who had been on their way to a bluegrass festival. One was reported to have been a male hustler at truck stops, though his parents vehemently deny it. But one of the victims had also been a National Merit Scholarship winner. So there didn’t really seem to be a pattern except the youth they had all shared. 66 Forensics teams found traces of dried blood inside the cabin. Most of it was too degraded, but one sample proved a DNA match with one of the victims. I’ve heard that incriminating and very disturbing photos were found, though I don’t know for a fact that they exist. But other objects that had belonged to the victims were discovered in a hiding place in the cabin. ANALYZE UNIVERSAL THEMES 67 The conclusions were inescapable, and a grand jury agreed. Annotate: Mark the sentences The victims had all been murdered by Russell Gramercy. They had © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company that introduce a major plot event been murdered by Russ. By Professor G. By the man I had killed in paragraph 67. with my car. Infer: Why is this discovery 68 On the hottest day of the following summer, my phone rang just significant? as I was about to go to work. “Hi, this is Daria Gramercy. Do you remember me?” 69 Startled, I replied, “Yes, I remember.” 70 Your parents gave me your number. I hope I’m not disturbing you,” she said uncertainly. 71 “No you’re not.” 208 UNIT 3 ANALYZE & APPLY CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A 72 “I’d like to talk with you. About the accident and everything. If Don’t forget to you don’t mind. I’d prefer in person, but if you’d rather we could do it Notice & Note as you read the text. over the phone.” 73 I had been hoping for and dreading this call for decades. We made plans to meet at a coffeehouse around the corner from her midtown hotel. 74 Daria had changed from the sexy teenager I had encountered briefly one fateful day. She had gained considerable weight, I saw as she entered the Starbucks. And her hair was cut in an unflattering style and frizzy from the equatorial humidity that day. Immediately I felt guilty and somehow disloyal for forming these unkind impressions. Given what she had been through, it was an achievement just to be walking around at all. I searched her eyes for anger or recrimination. My entire body seemed clenched with tension. 75 “Thanks for seeing me,” Daria said, shaking my hand and sitting down. She took a deep breath and seemed set to start a prepared talk. 76 “I want to apologize to you,” I interrupted. “I never did... back then.” 77 “You sent a sympathy card,” she replied noncommittally. 78 “I wanted to visit your family, but our legal advisers told us not to. They were afraid of liability.” Legal advisers? Some insurance liability company guy and my father’s fraternity brother who was the family (lπ-∂-b∆l´∆-t∏) n. the state of being lawyer? legally obligated or responsible. 79 She nodded. “I understand.” 80 “I wanted to,” I repeated, protesting too much. Then I blurted out, “Actually, that’s not accurate. I was dreading the visit; there was nothing I wanted to do less. When my father told me we couldn’t, it was like I had gotten a reprieve.” 81 Daria gave a knowing sigh. “Believe me, I understand how you felt.” ANALYZE CHARACTERIZATION 82 And then I let everything out. I told Daria exactly what I Annotate: Mark what the remembered. Everything: my inattention, the lies about my actual narrator says to Daria in speed, my creepy, lascivious stares as she comforted her dying paragraph 80. father. I’m not a Catholic, but I imagine it was like the sacrament of Infer: What does this tell you confession. “I’m just so very, very sorry,” I ended, and then, to my about the narrator’s character? horror but yet relief, for the first time since the accident I broke down and cried. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 83 She gave me a few moments, then said, “It wasn’t your fault. Even with everything you’ve told me, there was nothing you could have done to prevent it. You didn’t have time to react. I understand that.” Daria handed me a tissue. 84 When I had regained my composure, she gave me a rueful smile and said, “Well, you’ve sort of stolen my thunder. The reason I’m here is to apologize to you.” 85 Daria had been going to the families of all her father’s known victims and asking forgiveness. From how she described it, it sounded a bit like making amends in a twelve-step program. “After I had seen all the victims’ families, I knew I also needed to talk with you. My Entwined 209 CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A father caused so much pain and horror. If I can do anything to lessen that legacy, then I want to.” 86 We talked for a while. For years I had imagined just this, I told her. In my daydreams I had talked with her: I had explained, I had been succored. And remarkably, something like those fantasies had just happened. 87 Near the end of our conversation, I asked, “How is your brother, Chris?” 88 She was momentarily taken aback. “Oh, I thought you knew,” Daria said uncomfortably. “Chris died in 2004.” 89 “I’m so sorry,” I replied, mortified. “How?” 90 “A traffic accident.” 91 I flinched. 92 “He was living in Arizona. It was a one-car accident, late at night. Alcohol was involved.” 93 I must have seemed shaken. 94 “It had nothing to do with you,” Daria said. “Believe me. If you’re tempted to see this as some sort of delayed collateral damage from what you did, don’t. My brother had his own demons.” 95 We were silent a moment, then I said, “I went to the memorial service for your dad at Howland. The one speaker I remember most was a former student who your father helped become a doctor. And what he said was that our lives are inexplicably entwined. That many of the good things that the doctor had done could be added up in your father’s column in this sort of cosmic ledger. I thought about that when I heard about the... incidents.” ANALYZE UNIVERSAL THEMES 96 “You thought that by killing my dad,” she said gently, “even Annotate: Mark the sentences in though inadvertently, you had saved other young people from being paragraphs 96–98 that describe brutally slaughtered... Let’s call it what it is.” how the actions of characters 97 “Once again, it’s not something I’m real proud of. But yeah.” intersected or affected one 98 “I understand. More completely than you’ll know. And I think another. you’re right. I think what happened that day did spare others from my Interpret: How might these father’s... evil.” passages reveal the story’s theme, 99 We stared at one another for a moment, then she stood. There or message about life? ensued one of the most awkward hugs in the history of farewells. Then she went out into the street and disappeared. 100 I discovered the tape by a fluke. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 101 For the first time in years’ I returned to Verplanck. A cousin was getting married. At the rehearsal party at my aunt’s house, a bunch of my younger cousins were watching videos of their childhood in the family room. I was barely paying attention: the charms of children mugging for the camera is quickly lost if you’re not the one doing the mugging. 102 “Oh, let me show you this one of Barry playing soccer,” the brother of the groom said to the bride. “He falls right on his face.” 103 Suddenly my aunt strode into the room from the kitchen and said, “Tim, that’s enough of the videos.” Her tone was brusque. 104 Tim seemed confused. “What?” 210 UNIT 3 ANALYZE & APPLY CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A 105 Flustered, my aunt said more insistently, “I asked you to do VOCABULARY something. Turn off the TV. Not all our guests may be as enthralled Context Clues: The word as you.” brusque in paragraph 103 is 106 Her last words seemed to have some special meaning, one that surrounded by other words in her son belatedly understood. paragraphs 103–105 that can help 107 “Okay, Mom, sorry.” He darted a glance my way, then looked you determine its meaning. away, embarrassed. Analyze: Why does the narrator’s 108 It was only an hour later that it clicked. I took my aunt aside and aunt use this tone? asked. “That videotape of Barry playing soccer. It was taken that day, wasn’t it?” 109 Pained, she sighed. “I’m sorry. Tim just wasn’t thinking. I could smack him sometimes.” 110 “I’m not upset,” I assured her. “But I’d like to see that tape. Not now, not this weekend.” 111 I returned to New York with the DVD transfer of the VHS tape. It was in my DVD player even before I had taken off my coat. 112 Seven-year-olds are playing soccer. Way to go, Kyle. Way to go, some woman keeps calling out. Another faint but discernible conversation is a woman telling a friend about what a jerk her boss is. And then. 113 A small thunk. The tinny sound of screeching brakes. Oh, my God, did you see that? 114 The first time I watched the tape, I didn’t really notice the accident at all. But on the second, I could see the tiny figures in the upper left corner of the frame. Pedestrians walking, a hazy blue car approaching. Then one of those figures flying high into the air, over the car. One detail, however, didn’t quite fit. 115 Obsessively, I watched the tape over and over, at times my face just inches from the screen. And every time I thought I saw that troubling blur. 116 You can find almost anything on the Internet. Two days later I was in Irving Beckstein’s workshop in Astoria, Queens. Beckstein is © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©matimix/Shutterstock a forensic video analyst. He has worked for the Defense Department and often testifies as an expert witness at trials. Entwined 211 CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A NOTICE & NOTE 117 Beckstein had cropped and blown up the footage of the accident. AHA MOMENT “Forget what you see on TV. Our software can’t miraculously sharpen When you notice a sudden an image so it looks like a thirty-five-millimeter movie. But we can realization that shifts a character’s do quite a bit.” He went on to explain what he had done. His words actions or understanding, you’ve found an Aha Moment signpost. seemed well burnished, as if he had given them many times in front of juries. Notice & Note: Mark text in 118 Then he played the images for me on a large, sixty-inch monitor. paragraph 118 that describes an important realization by the Though heavily pixilated, it showed Chris Gramercy shoving his narrator. father into the path of my oncoming car. Infer: How might this realization change the narrator’s feelings or 119 Over the years I’ve attended a number of support groups. Most behavior? of the people there are like me: someone who has caused a fatal accident. Most have not been charged because it was determined that they were not at fault. That it was all a tragic accident. A few of the group members had slightly different stories. One was a police ANALYZE UNIVERSAL THEMES officer who had been involved in a suicide-by-cop incident. Another Annotate: Mark what the was a train engineer who ran over and decapitated a suicidal man police officer says about guilt in who had just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s who threw himself in paragraph 119. front of his train. You would think that they would somehow feel less Analyze: How does his comment guilty. But they didn’t. Maybe, the cop said, it was because it brought suggest a universal theme? home how vulnerable, how much at the mercy of unseen forces, we all are. 120 As far as I know, no member of the groups ever was an unknowing instrument of a murderer. Except me. 121 I did nothing with the information I discovered from the tape. But a month ago Daria Gramercy called me late at night. 122 “I’ve been thinking about you,” she said after apologizing for calling. “I somehow feel that we have unfinished business.” 123 “And why is that?” I asked carefully. 124 “I have nothing definite to go on, but my brother may have been more involved in the accident.” 125 “How?” 126 “I really don’t know. It was just this impression... After the accident, Chris was never really the same.” 127 “Were any of us?” 128 “I remember times when he was drunk—and he was drunk a lot near the end. He kept coming back to one theme. Was it ever justified to kill someone? Stupid stuff about would you go back in time to kill © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Hitler. Would I kill my husband to protect my children?” She sighed, then added plaintively, “My husband is the kindest, gentlest man in the world.” 129 There was a long silence on the line, then I heard, “When every- thing came out about my father, Chris’s words gained a different meaning.” 130 “I’m not sure I follow,” I said, though of course I did. “Are you saying that Chris somehow caused your father to fall in front of my car?” 131 “I don’t know what I mean,” she wailed. “I hope to God that’s not what happened. But I thought you had the right to know.” 212 UNIT 3 ANALYZE & APPLY CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A 132 I considered what she had told me, then said, ‘‘I really appreciate your calling me. And your contacting me has helped me in countless ESSENTIAL QUESTION: ways, so I’m grateful to you. But I can tell you definitely that your Who suffers when a crime is committed? brother did not cause your father’s death. I could clearly see them both, and Chris was a good two or three feet away from him. Your father stumbled. That image is etched in my mind permanently.” Review your notes and 133 I heard her crying softly and then, “Thank you.” add your thoughts to your 134 Did I do the right thing? I like to think I did, but who knows? Response Log. 135 The nightmares and my obsessive thoughts about that day have lessened. I don’t know. Maybe I’m getting better. COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSION Get together with a partner and talk about whether the narrator did the right thing by not telling Daria what he knew about Chris. Assessment Practice Answer these questions before moving on to the Analyze the Text section on the following page. 1. What do we never learn about the narrator? A his name B whether the accident was his fault or not C why he didn’t go to the funeral D whether he was speeding or not 2. What does the family video reveal? A the narrator not paying attention when he hits the professor B Chris Gramercy pushing his father in front of the car C the professor purposefully diving in front of the car © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company D Daria warning her father before the narrator hits the professor 3. Which detail best expresses why Professor Gramercy’s crimes are so shocking? A He was involved in community activities. B His students felt he went above and beyond for them. C He often went to his family’s cabin alone. D His son was troubled. Test-Taking Strategies Entwined 213 CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A Respond Analyze the Text Support your responses with evidence from the text. NOTICE & NOTE 1 ANALYZE From what point of view is this story told? Why do you think the writer Review what decided to tell it from this point of view? you noticed and noted as you read the text. Your 2 INFER How would you characterize the narrator? Refer to the graphic organizer you annotations can filled out as you read the story. Mark the evidence you found that reveals the narrator’s help you answer character traits. Then, summarize your inferences in the last box of this chart. these questions. Text Evidence Examples Inferences and Questions Character’s words and actions Character’s thoughts and observations What others say about the character My inferences about the narrator’s character traits: 3 INTERPRET Why does the author describe the lives of the Gramercys in great detail in paragraphs 18 and 49 before revealing the shocking truths later in the story? 4 COMPARE Reread paragraphs 53–56. Then, reread paragraphs 96–98. How do the narrator’s feelings about the accident change throughout the story? Cite evidence from the text to support your answer. 5 INTERPRET Think about what the main character realizes during the Aha Moment in paragraphs 117–118. What does he do with this information when Daria calls him at the end of the story? © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 6 CRITIQUE Do you think the author has created a complex character in the narrator? Is he a believable character? Explain. 7 EVALUATE What is the theme of this story? Review the chart you filled out on the Get Ready page. Think about how the Words of the Wiser in paragraph 50 as well as the comments in paragraphs 96 and 119 help reveal the theme. Write a theme statement. Is the theme a universal one? 214 UNIT 3 ANALYZE & APPLY CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A Respond Choices Here are some other ways to demonstrate your understanding of the ideas in this lesson. Social & Emotional Learning As you write and discuss, Advice Column be sure to use the Before the truth about Russell Gramercy comes out, the Academic Vocabulary words. narrator of “Entwined” is unable to develop his career or relationships because he feels guilty about the car capacity accident. Suppose you are an advice columnist, and you have received a letter from him. Write a column in which confer you offer suggestions for how he can better cope with emerge this painful experience in his past. Consider the extent of the narrator’s responsibility for causing the accident generate trace the narrator’s thoughts about why he should feel guilty or ashamed how other characters view his role in the accident Speaking & Listening Debate Participate in a small-group or whole-class debate in which you discuss whether the narrator was right to lie to Daria at the end of Writing the story. Discussion: Good vs. Evil Make notes about examples of cases in which it’s either acceptable or unacceptable In a small group, discuss whether good to lie. acts can offset, or cancel out, evil acts, and vice versa. Establish rules for speaking. Will speakers go © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company in order? When will the rest of the group be Before you meet: able to respond to a speaker’s points? Decide what you think the story says about the question. Hold the discussion with your panel. State your ideas, and listen and respond to the Outline thoughts, feelings, and experiences you want to share. ideas and opinions of others. During your discussion, listen and respond thoughtfully to others’ opinions. Entwined 215 CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A Respond Expand Your Vocabulary PRACTICE AND APPLY Answer the questions to show your understanding of the vocabulary words. Use a dictionary or thesaurus as needed. negligent empathy ineffably condolence irrevocably liability 1. If I am negligent, am I responsible or irresponsible? Why? 2. Which would be a condolence: laughing at someone or sending them flowers? Why? 3. If an action is taken irrevocably, can it be reversed, or is it permanent? Why? 4. Which would be more of a liability: buying a coffee or buying a phone? Why? 5. If I show empathy, am I being compassionate or rude? Why? 6. Which would show ineffable sadness: sitting in silence or crying loudly? Why? Vocabulary Strategy Context Clues When you read, you can use context clues to understand unfamiliar Interactive Vocabulary words. Context is how a word relates to the overall meaning of a sentence, Lesson: Using Context paragraph, or piece of writing. Clues Here are some types of context clues you may find in texts: Synonyms or Definitions Contrast Examples The text may provide a definition The text may give an antonym, or The text may list examples of the or a synonym. contrasting information. word. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company PRACTICE AND APPLY Locate these words in the story: sobriety (paragraph 27), rueful (paragraph 84), and discernible (paragraph 112). Then use context clues to write definitions for each word. Check your definitions in a dictionary. 216 UNIT 3 ANALYZE & APPLY CorrectionKey=NL-A;FL-A Respond Watch Your Language! Colons Writers use colons to add clarity and structure to their writing. The primary function of a colon is to introduce an element or a series of elements that elaborate on what came before the colon. Use of a Colon Examples from “Entwined” This example is one of the simpler Most of the people there are like me: someone uses of the colon: to provide an example of something. who has caused a fatal accident. In this passage, the writer uses three The answers were predictable: When I met my colons to do the same thing: to husband; When I gave birth to my daughter. Or provide quotations or examples that humorous: When I felt up Gina Simmons in sixth elaborate on his statements. grade, or It hasn’t happened yet, but it will be when I get fired from this job. When it was my turn, I was set to lie: It was when the Giants won the Super Bowl. Colons can also be used like © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©Doug Grundy/CartoonStock semicolons to connect two Even though the radio was blaring “Alive,” I could independent clauses. This is a stylistic also faintly hear children playing: a Pee Wee choice. He could have made these League soccer match was just beginning. separate sentences. When an independent clause follows a colon, should that clause begin with a capital letter? Experts disagree. If your assignment is to follow a Interactive Grammar certain style (for example, APA, MLA, The Chicago Manual of Style), be sure Lesson: Colons to look up the rule in that style manual. PRACTICE AND APPLY Write two paragraphs summarizing the main events in “Entwined.” Use colons in at least three places. At least one colon should introduce a list, and one should introduce a quotation or an independent clause. Entwined 217