Chapter 1
Andrew Nathan Ubis is working on Mrs. Reissman in the basement of his family’s funeral home. A funeral cosmetologist, Andrew’s job is to make the “guests” (corpses) look lifelike.
We come in on Andrew leaning against a woman’s body (Mrs. Reissman, the guest), crying, recalling his own dead mother. While this is happening, Jacob (his father) comes down the stairs and confronts his son touching the woman.
Jacob inspects his son’s work and declares that it’s excellent.
We see here that Andrew and Jacob have a very strained relationship. Andrew is clearly developmentally delayed, perhaps somewhere on the autism spectrum, and struggles being “normal”. Jacob has a hard time dealing with his son and isn’t very affectionate. It’s obvious that Jacob’s praise comes as a surprise and Andrew controls his reaction to it.
Jacob announces that Mrs. Brody (a woman Jacob is seeing, a divorcee who lives in town) is there with dinner and that Andrew should finish, clean himself up, and join the them for dinner.
After Jacob leaves, Andrew apologizes to Mrs. Reissman for crying on her. She opens her eyes and smiles at him, saying no apology is necessary. Her tone is kind and motherly. She also compliments his work and then returns to her corpse-like state.
Andrew doesn’t seem surprised that she spoke to him and goes upstairs for dinner.
Chapter 2
This chapter expands on Andrew’s difficulty dealing with people when we meet with Mrs. Brody, his father’s girlfriend.
Andrew greets Mrs. Brody in the kitchen where she sits with his father, both of them drinking - she’s drinking wine and he’s drinking scotch. Mrs. Brody always makes Andrew uncomfortable so he’s polite but quick, going to his room.
Once up in his room, Allen takes his clothes off and puts them in a special bag that is laundered to protect against chemicals. He takes a long shower.
After the shower he steps into his room, naked, to find Mrs. Brody standing there, clearly drunk.
She remarks on his naked body and the size of his penis. Andrew is confused and embarrassed. He knows it’s wrong for her to see him naked and say those things. She smiles at him like cruel people sometimes do and then she leaves.
Once she walks out, he hears, “Get dressed Allen. And get out of here. That woman isn’t good. Your mother doesn’t like her.” Mrs. Reissnen said, an urgency in her voice.
With that, Andrew gets dressed quickly and hurries from the house.
Chapter 3
Andrew can’t drive so he walks to town (it’s about 30 minutes). We see people’s interaction with him. They’re generally kind but also condescending. Andrew knows they’re not being nice but doesn’t really understand it.
Andrew heads to the town diner for dinner, having some of his own money in his wallet.
There we’re introduced to Crystal, one of the waitresses at the diner. She’s in her 20s. Crystal is genuinely kind to Andrew, not just condescending. She has a little brother with autism and she understands the challenges. Andrew is in love with her.
In this scene we experience their interactions with each other, our hearts warmed by her kindness and genuine affection for him. We also see that Andrew doesn’t understand the difference between her kindness and love so we also recognize that he loves her back.
During this scene, Jacob calls the diner and confirms Andrew is there. He tells Crystal to send Andrew home.
Chapter 4
Andrew walks back. It’s much later - about 9pm. The town is quieter, less people on the streets. Lights are on in homes down the blocks.
Andrew thinks about the happy families that are there. The dads who love their sons and are kind to them.
A car pulls up near him, it’s a young man named Steven. Also in his mid-20s, he’s Crystal’s boyfriend. Steven knows that Crystal likes Andrew but in a purely platonic way. He doesn’t understand the affection but he knows it comes from her “moron brother” who creeps him out.
Steven offers to give him a ride home but Andrew can smell alcohol on his breath. Andrew says no, he wants to walk it. Steven persists for a moment but then drives off, calling Andrew a moron.
When Andrew gets home, his father is very angry with him. He struggles to articulate his feelings. He knows that what happened between him and Mrs. Brody was a bad thing, that it will only make his father angrier. He understands that this isn’t a thing he can share.
Eventually Andrew goes to bed. In the night, Andrew dreams of when his mother died in the hospital and how his father found him with his arms around her, hugging her. He dreamt of her saying good bye to him and that she loved him.
Chapter 5
When Andrew wakes up in the morning, there’s the sound of activity downstairs. He begins to make his way down but his father tells him no, to go back up to his room and stay there.
This has never happened before, making Andrew anxious. He paces restlessly. He has another chat with Mrs. Reissman, who tells him to be calm and reminds him that in death there’s peace and not to worry.
Andrew sees out the window several hearses with bodies being carried out on transfer boards, 6 total. Whatever happened was a big deal, he can’t remember any time they’d had 6 guests at once. 7 if you counted Mrs. Reissman. They barely had enough room.
Defying his father, Andrew heads down the stairs and sees the bodies being brought in through the back. He watches out of sight, observing the men carrying the bodies down the stairs.
Andrew trails down the stairs behind the men, they ignore him because they recognize him from working with him in the past at the mortuary.
Going into the basement, Andrew can see the 6 bodies set on tables with the men surrounding them. One of the body bags is open, showing the bloodied and cut up face of Steven, Crystal’s boyfriend.
Mrs. Reissman says to him, “I’m so sorry honey. Just remember, everything ends up OK."
Andrew looks confused until he looks again and sees Crystal’s body on the table next to Steven.
Chapter 6
The sight of Crystal dead is a shock to Andrew. Too late, his father realizes that Andrew's there and that his worst fear was realized.
Andrew goes over to the body, looking at her. Unlike Steven, her face is surprisingly free of injury but there’s a long bloody gash across her throat where glass cut her.
“It was an accident. He was drinking.” Jacob said to Andrew, his voice hoarse, rough with emotion for his son’s loss. He knew what Crystal meant to him.
Andrew doesn’t speak much but goes to look at the other bodies. The remaining people two couples that were driving in the same car, obviously hit by Steven. Andrew snaps on a glove. His fingers touch their skin, assessing their wounds.
It’s clear he’s retreated into the emotionlessness of his work - a trait he learned from his father.
Jacob seems satisfied for the moment that Andrew isn’t going to cause trouble and lets his son go about the process of assessing the work while he goes to speak with the men who brought the bodies.
Chapter 7
Andrew is lost. It will be at least a day until he can work on the bodies so he can’t lose himself in the work.
Jacob is at a loss how to help his son, clearly seeing that he’s in pain but unaware of how to connect with him to help. We see clearly here how much he really loves his son and how much he feels like a failure to connect with him to help him.
Andrew spends the day in his room, refusing to leave. There he speaks with the dead - Steven, Crystal, Mr. & Mrs. Barrett, and Mr. & Mrs. James.
Andrew finds it an upsetting experience, the dead seem to be arguing with each other. The two couples are angry with Steven and Crystal for their deaths. Andrew does his best to intervene but he can’t keep up with it all.
TBD - I struggled with what happens exactly here but one idea I had here was that prior to the next chapter when he works on the bodies, he has a major interaction with his father where Jacob tells him that he can’t be too personal with the bodies. Jacob tries to help Andrew see the truth of Crystal’s feelings for him, that they were motivated by kindness and understanding, not romantic love.
Chapter 8
The next day Andrew is able to work on the “guests”. He handles the two older couples first, his work competent and quick.
Jacob checks in on Andrew periodically through the day but seems satisfied that everything is going OK.
Andrew works next on Steven. His anger at the man who killed Crystal makes his job harder but it doesn’t prevent him from doing good work.
When it comes time to work on Crystal, Andrew is both sad and happy that Crystal’s face is undamaged. He spends a long time just looking at her, talking to her. Sharing his feelings with her.
Crystal listens and responds, telling him that she always loved him too. Steven makes nasty remarks about this both otherwise doesn’t get involved. The Barretts and the Jameses just watch, their demeanor kind and encouraging.
Andrew cries that they can’t be together but Crystal tells him that if he takes her away from there, they could be together somewhere else.
Chapter 9
Andrew finishes preparing the bodies for the funerals. Jacob has awkwardly tried to demonstrate affection for his son but it’s difficult for both of them.
Eventually Jacob leaves Andrew to get changed out of his clothes.
Andrew takes the opportunity to go upstairs and steal his father’s car keys. He’s terrified because he’s not allowed to do this but he thinks that he might finally have a chance to be happy.
He carefully carries Crystal’s prepared body out of the house through the back where the hearse is parked. Andrew props Crystal up in the front seat and then buckles her in.
They’re chatting happily about the future. She’ll help him find his own house. He can start his own funeral home because he’s very good and they can get married.
Andrew is excited but also scared. He’s being very bad, he doesn’t really know how to drive very well, and he knows he’ll be in trouble. But he also knows that if he doesn’t do this that his life will be a sad one with his father’s anger and Mrs. Body’s cruelty.
He starts the car and begins driving it from around behind the house, moving slowly and steering deliberately. Crystal apologizes for not driving for obvious reasons.
Eventually he gets down the main driveway. As he does, his father comes running out, realizing Andrew has left with the car.
Scared, Andrew presses the brake on accident and then stamps on the accelerator. The big vehicle pushes forward quickly, causing him to lose control of it. He wrestles with the car, struggling to regain control but he fails. It crashes into a solid stone wall, causing several large segments to fall off and land in the front of the vehicle, crushing Andrew.
Here at the end, Andrew realizes he is dying. Crystal is sitting next to him telling him it’s OK. He can hear his father’s shouting voice somewhere in the distance. Outside the window, he can see his mother.
“It’s OK.” She tells him, holding her hand out. “I’ve missed you so much.” Standing nearby are the other dead that Andrew worked on over the years, all looking alive and welcoming, kindly.
“Come on Andrew.” Crystal says to him. “Let’s go."
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