We Cast a Shadow

Reeling from his visit with Sir, the narrator is overwhelmed by the urge to see Nigel and tell his son that he loves him. He heads to Nigel’s scheduled soccer practice but discovers that Nigel hasn’t attended in weeks. Nigel isn’t answering his phone, so the narrator drives to Araminta’s house. Araminta answers the door to tell him that Nigel isn’t there, but he can smell Nigel’s scent in the house. Breaking the door down with his shoulder, he demands to know where Nigel is. Araminta points him toward a room in the back of the house, where the narrator catches Nigel as he is trying to sneak out of a window. Nigel refuses to come home, declaring that he won’t take any more of the demelanization treatments. Araminta gets between them, and, when the narrator grabs her arm, Nigel shoves him onto his back. Realizing that she lives alone, the narrator threatens to call CPS on her if she doesn’t come home with him and Nigel, but she retorts that she “ain’t closing [her] eyes in any house [the narrator] was in” (254). The narrator returns to his car and mixes a sedative into Nigel’s medication.