Leave the World Behind

Amanda cleans up Archie, then Clay takes him into the living room and dresses him. Ruth and G. H.’s parental instincts kick in; Ruth helps with Archie while G. H. helps Rose decorate the cake. Amanda takes the soiled sheets into the shower to rinse them and feels rage at her powerlessness. Ruth arrives and helps, extending her offer to combine their laundry.

Ruth makes another offer to Amanda as well—that her family should stay at the house indefinitely—but Amanda is not moved. She still wants to go home or get Archie to a doctor, and she still has the lingering feeling that she shouldn’t trust Ruth.

Ruth indulges the idea that illness might be spreading through the house, and they both admit to their fear. Amanda asks Ruth to comfort her, and Ruth tells her she can’t—she’s not that kind of person. She repeats her offer that the family can stay, and reminds Amanda that she has her family here with her, and they’re safe, which is more than Ruth has.

The household has an evening of relative calm, despite their circumstances. They have a relaxed dinner and dessert, and the conversation turns to other vacations they’ve had. For Amanda and Clay, Disney, and for Ruth and G. H., Paris. The two couples sit drinking contentedly until their anxieties re-emerge. Clay asks G. H. to draw him a map back to New York, and G. H. says he will drive with them into town, where they can find their own way. Clay and Amanda have seemingly settled on returning to the city, and G. H. and Ruth will stay at the house.

G. H. says that he will make sure that he gives Clay the money he promised, then Ruth encourages them to enjoy their last night of vacation. Reluctant, Amanda decides to go pack. Clay joins her; he knows she is adamant about leaving tomorrow. She reveals that she is unreasonably angry at G. H. and Ruth for bringing the world into this house. She is overcome with anger and fear but realizes there is nothing to do about it; lacking any other course of action but to enjoy the moment, she and Clay have sex.

The sex is intense, some of the best they’ve ever had, but their thoughts quickly return to the practical needs of taking care of Archie and where they’ll stop to get dinner on the way into the city. The paranoia that Rose might be sick, or that they are, enters their minds briefly.

Amanda rises, and Clay suggests they go smoke. Amanda thinks they should dress; Clay doesn’t see a problem with smoking in the nude, despite Ruth and G. H. As they go outside, they notice the crack in the glass door, and Amanda runs her finger along it, unsettled.

Amanda gets into the hot tub while Clay fixes drinks. G. H. comes out to use the hot tub, and Amanda invites him in despite her nudity. G. H. confesses that he always thought of himself as sophisticated and prepared, but nothing has prepared him for this. Inside, Ruth lies on the bed and thinks of her grandchildren while Clay fixes drinks and the children sleep.

G. H. tells Amanda he saw this coming in the markets; Clay joins them, and they keep discussing this, as G. H. says, “It’s not the end of the world […] It’s a market event” (178).

They hear a splash from the pool, so they investigate and find a flamingo beating its wings against the water. Already stunned, as their eyes adjust to the dark, they see that there is a whole flock of flamingos in the pool and yard. The flamingos lift off and rise into the night, leaving the three of them shocked.

Back inside, Clay makes another round of drinks while G. H. raids the fridge. They discuss where the flamingos came from; it could be from a zoo, or a rich person’s private menagerie. Ruth joins them and believes them instantly, though the why of the birds’ arrival continues to elude them. They all admit that they are adults that know nothing without access to the internet.

Ruth makes her offer for them to stay again, and Clay suggests that they could stay and move downstairs so Ruth and G. H. could have their house back. They go quiet, and noise breaks out several times, secret American planes off “to do unspeakable things” (185). All of them but Ruth scream—she doesn’t see the point—and the children rush to Amanda as the noise happens one final time.

Amanda and Clay huddle in bed with their children, unable to sleep. They think about the legacy of what their generation is leaving to their children, and Amanda worries about Archie’s illness, whether he will get better, whether they are all sick.

She asks Clay if they should still go in the morning, and Clay doesn’t know. She wants him to say first that they should stay. They know they are safe in the house, but they fall silent without resolving what they’ll do, both aware that they are and are not alone in this situation.