Unwind

It is the night of Risa’s piano recital, and she worries she isn’t good enough. “She has to know the Sonata. It has to come to her as easily as breathing” (19). When she plays she makes a couple of mistakes, noticed only by her. Risa imagines her instructor telling her to relax, but “He’s not fifteen, and he’s never been a ward of the state” (20), she reasons. After the performance, he tells her she did great. She disagrees.

Despite Risa’s success at the piano recital, “One week later she’s called into the headmaster’s office” to face a tribunal of “Three adults sitting in judgement, like the three monkeys: hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, speak-no-evil” (21). They explain that she has reached the limit of her potential, telling her, “You must know that space in state homes is at a premium these days, and with budget cuts, every StaHo is impacted—ours included” (22). The social worker tries to comfort Risa by telling her change is scary. Risa becomes upset and says, “What do you mean ‘change’? Dying is a little bit more than ‘change’” (23).

Mr. Durkin, her instructor, does not show up to see her ushered onto a bus filled with other children who are to be unwound, an event that “hurts Risa most of all” (25) because he is a father figure of sorts. On the way to the unwinding camp, the bus crashes while trying to avoid two kids on the highway. Risa takes a chance—she runs.

Lev is attending a party thrown in his honor. He notes that some of his friends didn’t want to attend. “I don’t know, Lev. [...] it’s kind of weird. I mean, what kind of present am I supposed to bring?” (28), one asks. He dances with every girl he wants, and he notices time is passing too quickly. Though everyone toasts him, Lev admits mixed feelings:

It feels wonderful and weird for so many people to say so many kind things about him. It’s too much, but in some strange way it’s not enough. There’s got to be more. More food. More dancing. More time. They’re already bringing out the birthday cake (28).

When one final toast is made, it turns out to be “[…] the toast that almost ruins the evening” (29): His brother criticizes the party as an event to replace all other events in his life because Lev’s is being cut short. Lev’s father tells Lev’s brother to be quiet, but he doesn’t. He adds,

And to our parents! Who have always done the right thing. The appropriate thing. Who have always given generously to charity. Who have always given 10 percent of everything to our church. Hey, Mom—we’re lucky you had ten kids instead of five, otherwise we’d end up having to cut Lev off at the waist (30).

Lev talks to Pastor Dan, who comforts him. Lev has always felt different as a tithe—a boy born to be unwound—but he feels he is coming to terms with it. “‘I’m ready for this,” he admits, “and saying it makes him realize that, in spite of his fears and misgivings, he truly is ready. This is everything he has lived for. Even so, his tithing party ends much too soon” (33).

As Lev gets ready to go to the unwinding camp, he asks what comes next. His father suggests there might be an orientation. “That short answer makes it clear to Lev that they don’t know any more than he does” (34). The car gets on the highway, but it stops. Lev hears a gunshot. Then he sees another kid running toward him. The kid opens the door and tries to drag him out of the car. “The maniac tugs on him again, and this time Lev falls out of the car, hitting his head on the pavement” (35). Lev tells the boy that he is supposed to be unwound, but Pastor Dan tells Lev to run, shocking Lev. “Why is Pastor Dan telling him to run? Then comes a sudden pain in his shoulder, and everything starts spinning round and round and down a drain into darkness” (37).

Connor sees a girl running from the bus and watches her go into the woods. He follows. However, when he turns back, he notices the boy in white getting back into his car. Conner then makes a momentous decision: “He knows it’s a stupid decision, but he can’t help himself. All he knows is that he’s caused death today. The bus driver’s, maybe more. Even if it risks everything, he’s got to balance it somehow” (37-38). The kid in white gets hit by a bullet, and Connor picks him up off the ground. He hurries into the woods with the boy and finds the girl. They agree to make a plan.

The cop is annoyed at the situation, wishing “[…] he could truly take these wastes-of-life out rather than just taking them down” (39). He follows the path into the woods and hears a voice asking for help. He finds a girl who appears hurt. When he moves away, he is knocked to the ground by the girl and the Unwind (Connor) he was tracking. They take his tranquilizer gun and shoot him in the leg.