Interview aftermath and ER (pp. 16–17)
I think very briefly of the late Cosgrove Watt. I think of the hypophalangial Grief-Therapist. I think of the Moms, alphabetizing cans of soup in the cabinet over the microwave. Of Himself’s umbrella hung by its handle from the edge of the mail table just inside the Headmaster’s House’s foyer. The bad ankle hasn’t ached once this whole year. I think of John N. R. Wayne, who would have won this year’s WhataBurger, standing watch in a mask as Donald Gately and I dig up my father’s head.
Context
Strapped to the gurney, Hal free-associates — and the famous "prolepsis" here is, from where Hal actually stands in the Year of Glad, plain memory: the grave-dig with Gately already happened. Dead people, domestic details, and the disinterment run through one flat "I think of" grammar, so remembering, knowing, and foreseeing become indistinguishable acts.