Jacklighting (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Ann Beattie
- First Published: 1982
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The 1970's
- Setting: Charlottesville, Virginia
- Principal Characters: The anonymous narrator, Wynn, Spence, Pammy
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Accidents, Death or dying, Hunting or hunters, Deer, Drunk driving or drivers
- Locales: Charlottesville, VA
The Story
Nicholas has died sometime during the past year from injuries incurred while he was taking a midnight ride on his Harley and a drunk, driving a van, hit him head-on. Last year, on his birthday, he was alive but in the hospital, brain-damaged from the accident. This year, on his birthday, he is dead, and the narrator and her boyfriend, Wynn, both of whom used to drive from New York to Virginia to spend Nicholas's birthday with him, have come instead to visit Nicholas's brother, Spence, who now lives alone in the house that the brothers once shared.
The first...
[The entire page is 1329 words long]

