Tenth of December

Ted works at a medieval themed attraction, and on TorchLightNight, he witnesses his boss Don Murray sexually assaulting his coworker Martha. She asks him to keep it a secret from her partner Nate and leaves before he responds.

The next morning, Don Murray summons Ted to his office with Martha. He tells Ted that he’s given Martha $1000, that their sexual intercourse was “voluntary” and that both Martha and Ted are being promoted, which is “coincidental” to the fling. Ted has been a janitor for six years, which he sees as demeaning work, so moving up to the role of Pacing Guard—an actual character in the attraction—is a big step.

Ted lives with his parents and sister Beth, none of whom work due to injury, illness, and shyness. After stopping to pick up their prescriptions, Ted stops by Martha and Nate’s house. When Nate asks what’s going on at work, Ted decides it’s Martha’s decision whether or not to reveal the rape and covers for her emotional distress.

The next morning, Mrs. Bridges explains that Ted will take a pill called KnightLyfe® to help him perform his Pacing Guard role. His job is to pace in front of a door and guard someone playing the King. Ted has trouble with his improvisational performance until the drug kicks in. He begins feeling chivalric brotherhood with Kyle, who plays a messenger, and the narration shifts into a heightened, medieval-inspired diction brought on by the drug.

Don Murray stops by and says they should go on a trip together, but when Martha arrives, Ted, caught up in his role, says she is “consenting by her Words to keep her Disgrace in such bleak Confinement!” (210). When Don Murray tries to silence him, Ted, under the influence of the drug, feels it is his duty to defend Martha’s honor by announcing Don Murray’s assault to the whole crowd. Martha runs away, and Ted is attacked and taken away by security.

Ted is fired and cast out while under the effects of KnightLyfe® and worries about how he will explain this to his family, who depend on his paycheck, with his normal language. Martha calls him and is despondent that he revealed the assault against her wishes. As he walks home through a high-school football field, Ted thinks through why he revealed the assault as his narration alternates between his altered state and usual diction. He realizes that he’s made a profound mistake. As the last bit of the pill works on him, he watches the sunset as he has one last moment of his chivalric self.