#pxii

          “ Why do so many people like cantaloupe? “ Steven asks seemingly no one but himself. “ It feels gross when you bite into it, not to mention, it’s tasteless. It just doesn’t make sense. You know what I mean? “

‘ i’m really not comfortable with this conversation. ‘ 

"Suffice it to say, Lude & I spent the last hours of the year alone, scouting for new bars, new faces, driving recklessly through the canyons, doing our best to talk the high midnight heavens down with a whole lot of bullshit. We never did. Talk them down, I mean. Then the old man died." This quote appears on the second page of Johnny Truant's introduction to the text, so it serves to aid in setting the tone of the book for the reader. Perhaps most interesting about this selection - aside from the gravity of the ending subject matter - is the ambiguity Danielewski employs in the wording and sentence structure. The word "then" of the last sentence provides the reader with at least two possible interpretations: 1) We never did. Talk them down, I mean. [Following this,] the old man died. 2) We never did. Talk them down, I mean. [Until] the old man died. While the first option is likely our primary guess, the second more closely links the section's ideas - talking down the heavens and the old man's death. If we consider the old man's death to catalyze or allow for the "talking down" of the heavens, we can perhaps take this to mean the destruction of the heavens - perhaps, the peaceful, perfect Judeo-Christian heaven - to make room for the hellish events about to unfold. -Katie Hobbs & Danielle Brocker