Oh, William

Lucy recalls that Catherine organized her and William’s vacations during the early part of their marriage and that she even accompanied them. Lucy found these vacations torturous, as she was uncertain of how to behave on them. Once, she called her family home and confided her despondency to her father. He suggested looking at the scenery.

Lucy meets her daughters at Bloomingdales, and they express their pleasure in her accompanying their father to Maine. Chrissy, who has not become pregnant after her miscarriage, says she will go to a specialist. Lucy is reluctant to pry, as she comes from a Puritan household, where such matters were never discussed. Nevertheless, Lucy reveals that her father’s post-traumatic-stress disorder, caused by WWII, produced “sexual urges in him almost constantly” (93). She breaks off before detailing how these manifested, emphasizing that she loved her father.

Lucy reflects how William is disturbed by his father’s fighting on the Nazis’ side, despite knowing that his father regretted his country’s deeds. Although William’s night-terrors have featured gas-chambers and crematoriums, he also accepted his inherited money from Wilhelm’s father, who got rich from the war. Before her death, Catherine described these funds as “dirty money,” indicating that William should “give it all away” (95).