The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Amy takes Dorrigo to a nightclub, where they sit at a table and talk. Amy tells him that she is 24. They talk about Keith and Ella: “Dorrigo told himself that the divide between him and Amy was absolute” (91). He is happier around her than he has been in a long time. He enjoys that other men are looking at him with envy. Amy holds his hand. She says that she is Keith’s, and he is Ella’s, but they belong to each other tonight. They slow dance together and he fights the urge to kiss her. When the dance ends, she says, “Take me home” (94).

At the hotel, Amy plays a record for Dorrigo and sits on the arm of his chair. They talk about music, and then he says he needs to go. When they stand, Amy presses her face into his neck: “It was not clear to him what this meant or what he should do. He did not dare kiss her” (96). 

In the morning, he wakes to find a note from Amy saying that she is away on hotel business and will not be there to say goodbye. He is relieved that nothing more had happened: “Nothing had happened, and yet everything had changed” (97).