The Dead and the Gone

On May 24, Alex and his sisters return to school, a welcome element of normalcy. Bri and Julie attend Holy Angels, an all-girl Catholic school, and Alex attends the all-boy St. Vincent de Paul Academy. Alex enters the school chapel and sits alone, avoiding his friends so as not to listen to their chatter about the disaster. He notices that all three priests are missing, as well as some of the teachers. There is also a new headmaster, Father Mulrooney, who explains various changes in the staff, including the priests’ reassignment. Father Mulrooney has come out of retirement to serve as headmaster and to teach Latin and advanced theology. He is a serious and severe-looking man who is blunt about the situation and the importance of education regardless of emergencies.

Two days later, on May 26, Alex misses his morning classes—to the disapproval of Father Mulrooney—and heads to 42nd Street to catch his bus to Yankee Stadium to search for Mami’s body. He finds the city less empty than before but still unusually quiet. When he arrives, the bus terminal is busy and chaotic. Police officers help direct him to his bus, and he reads the sheet of rules for viewing the dead at the stadium as he waits to board.