Day

Garth works on a sculpture in his art studio. He has found a dealer that will sell his sculptures devoted to Shakespeare plays. He is currently working on a headdress that he believes would belong to Hamlet, which he describes as the “nastiest” one he has done, made with real human teeth. As he works, he tries to call Chess. She has not been answering him, so he leaves her a voicemail begging her to just let him know if she and Odin are safe.

As Dan writes a song, he thinks of how what he has written isn’t as good as he wants—but that it is good enough to satisfy his followers. He has gained over two hundred thousand online, many of whom leave comments and write Tweets to him about how much they love his music. However, he has also realized that he was happier with the “yearning to go back to writing songs” that he is “now that he’s writing them” (133). Now that he is making music again, it has forced him to grapple with the fact that his goals were higher than what he’s actually capable of.

Violet goes into Nathan’s room. She annoys him by asking if he did his homework and if he keeps the windows closed in the room. He is rude to her and makes her leave, but then he realizes that in some way he misses her. He is conflicted internally between his desire to have her company and the “pure rage” he struggles to keep in check when she is around.

Robbie writes a letter to Nathan and Violet, one that he has no way of sending while at the cabin but promises to send to them eventually. He tells them how much he misses them and that he will bring them to Iceland when things are normal again, reminding them that things may be hard now but will go back to normal soon.

Chess thinks about her life during the pandemic. Because they can no longer teach in-person classes, she rarely leaves her apartment, instead teaching from her computer while caring for Odin the rest of the time. She has pity for her students, many of whom have been forced to go back home to live with their parents, as she can see on their cameras during class. However, she also realizes how little she means to them—thinking of herself as just a show they are forced to watch each day. Similarly, though, she also feels less connected to her students. Instead, most of her life revolves around Odin, who is slowly growing inside her apartment, seeing the rest of the world only through the window.

Isabel sits on the stairs looking at the last post from Wolfe of a hiking trail with a caption saying he will be off the grid for a while. She forces herself to look away from the photo, knowing that she will go back to looking at it again soon. She then makes herself return to the living room, where she finds a note from Violet reminding her to close the windows. Dan comes in and asks her if they should speak to Violet, but Isabel insists that it won’t do any good and they should just keep the windows closed. As Dan leaves, she wishes that she could “muster more affection for him” (147), but instead is grateful that he is going back to be “isolated” by working on his music.

Nathan writes an email to his friends, Harrison and Chad. He tells them to come over that night, instructing them to quietly sneak up to his room.

Isabel knows that she should talk to Violet and comfort her, reminding her that COVID-19 cannot come in through the windows. She also knows that she should talk to Nathan and make him do his homework and shower. However, she instead returns to the stairs. She refuses to let herself open Instagram and instead sits listening to Johannes Brahms’ Requiem. 

Chess sends an email to Garth. She apologizes for not answering him and admits that she has been secluded with Odin, speaking to and seeing no one else. She tells Garth that she can’t let him near Odin, even if he has been in quarantine, but she offers to let him stand outside while she brings Odin to the window. Garth emails her back and eagerly agrees.

Isabel continues to sit on the stairs, listening to Brahms. Although she doesn’t speak German, she imagines the music is a “celebration of mortality itself” (154). She realizes that she is neglecting her children and her job but can’t stop listening.

Robbie writes in his journal from the cabin. He makes a list of things about Iceland—like the smell in the morning of “cold” and the “wakening world,” the fox skull hung on the wall that he compares to a crucifix, the landscape in early spring, that Wolfe is out hiking, and that he “lose[s] track sometimes of the fact that” Wolfe is imaginary (156-57).

Garth sends a text message to Chess. After seeing Odin through the window and walking just a few blocks away, he had to stop and text her because he was so excited about having seen Odin. He comments on how big Odin is and thanks Chess for letting him see him, ending by saying that he hopes he can do it again soon.

Still sitting on the stairs, Isabel receives a text from Dan asking her to go into the living room. She finds him sitting in the middle of the sofa. He asks her whether they were fighting earlier when they disagreed on whether to talk to Violet about the windows. She tries to dismiss him, but he insists that it made him feel like he was “falling away. From [her] and the kids and everything” (161). He tells her that he writes his music for Robbie and that he wishes Robbie would come home from Iceland. He confesses that he cares whether Robbie thinks he is a “nobody,” and writing music makes him think that he matters. Isabel keeps responding that she doesn’t understand what he’s saying, so Dan changes the conversation to ask her about dinner.

Isabel wonders whether “too late” to fix things is a specific point in a marriage—something momentous—or just a gradual thing that happens. She considers whether it can happen repeatedly, where a couple fixes their marriage, then realizes they’re struggling, then fixes it again. Finally, she tells Dan that they should wait and assess things once life returns to normal.

As Garth continues to walk away from seeing Odin, he thinks of how much Odin has grown and how much he is starting to look like Garth. He felt “desperate” trying to get Odin’s attention, as Chess only nodded in acknowledgement and did not encourage Odin or help him wave back.

Robbie writes a letter to Isabel. He tells her that he only has one pen and will be able to call her long before he can send the letter, but he writes it anyway. He tells her about the view of the river and the glacier, and how “we” walk naked on the mountain. Although he doesn’t think he will get accepted to medical school, he is hoping that at least one school takes him, as he tries to feel more optimistic about starting his life over.

Chess is relieved that Garth is gone, his “presence” proving to be a “bigger incursion than she’d expected it to be” (170). Now, she returns to her secluded life with Odin, preparing him for his nap so that she can teach her next class.

Dan sits in his bedroom writing a new song. Nathan is in his room, watching the movie School of Rock over and over. He sends another text to his friends, bragging about how good he has become at League of Legends and reminding them to come in quietly.

In her room, Violet looks at herself in the mirror, wondering if one of her parents will come up to reassure her that they are keeping the windows closed. Her mother appears in the mirror and starts to tell her something about the windows, then stops. Instead, she reassures Violet that she is right—and not to let anyone ever tell her she’s wrong. When her mother leaves, Violet wonders when Robbie will be back, thinking that his return will bring more “jokes and hope” into her life (173).

Chess writes an email to Garth. She tells him that she is upset that she used the pronoun “our” in reference to Odin when he texted her. She reminds him that she is his mother—but he is not his father. She wants Odin to know Garth, but not to have any relationship with him. She ends by asking Garth to take some space and to remember their boundaries so that he does not begin to expect something from Chess that she is not going to give him.

Isabel calls her father. She tries to express her regrets over having fought with her mother and not been there when she died; however, her father keeps getting sidetracked talking about the pandemic and the flowers they left at his wife’s grave the last time they visited. At the end of the call, Isabel promises to replace the flowers—even though there are no florists open.

Isabel writes a letter to Violet, intended to be read 15 years from now. In it, she tells Violet that she gets irritated by her and they fight sometimes, but it’s just a result of being stuck at home and it’s a natural part of mother-daughter relationships. Even if they do not have a close relationship when Violet reads the letter, Isabel wants her to know that she thinks she is “extraordinary” and cares deeply about her.

Garth and Chess argue via text message about how Chess feels. When Garth calls her, she hesitates, then answers. She tells him that she “never wanted a man in [her] life,” that using Garth as the father was easier than an “anonymous donor” (189). She tells him that he still wants him in Odin’s life, but that he cannot take on a fatherly role or build a relationship with him. Garth gets angry, accusing her of using him as a babysitter when she needed it and now shutting him out. When Chess gets defensive, he apologizes, and the two calm down. As they end the call, Chess promises to think about letting him see Odin again through the window.

Isabel goes out into the street. She notices how empty and quiet it is, aside from distant sirens. She heads toward the cemetery to remove the tulips from her mother’s grave—even though she considers the task “meaningless” and knows that her father won’t even know if she does it or not.

Robbie writes another letter to Isabel from his cabin, acknowledging that he never was able to send the first one. In it, he rambles about the “musical” nature around him, the fact that he is happy to have found Wolfe so he won’t spend the rest of his life alone, and how he is sometimes frightened by the night sky. He acknowledges that he is happy to be away from the real world, but also that he has nothing to do but watch nature around him. He writes that it feels as though “time itself is the only event and [he’s] here with it,” then writes that “it doesn’t really make [him] happy”—but then crosses the last part out (198). As he closes the letter, he tells her that he hopes he will get better soon, as he sees Wolfe coming back.