We Cast a Shadow

It is months after the accident. The narrator robotically makes breakfast, setting the table for only two; Penny died after the police van struck her. The radio reports recent ADZE attacks and the subsequent pushback: campaigns of killing, sterilization, and deportation. Nigel comes down to breakfast and they both pretend to eat. The narrator is now paying him to maintain his skin treatments, including injections of a dubious tincture that supposedly destroys melanin. He lies to Nigel that Penny would have wanted this. They spend the drive to School Without Walls in silence, the narrator feeling powerless to connect with his son. As he drops Nigel off, he notes that Nigel has a growing circle of non-white friends.

At Seasons, the narrator feels some relief. Octavia has been happy with his work lately, and it seems he will get his promotion and will be able to fund Nigel’s procedure. At lunch, Dinah strikes up a conversation with the narrator. She’s been dating Pavor for a few months now. Noticing subtle differences in her facial features, he realizes she’s had cosmetic surgery. She now looks “as if someone hopped in a time machine and swapped out one of her [Vietnamese] parents for a Swedish person” (211).