“He never protects me.”
Mrs. Burridge and Frank are getting older and are too used to each other. Frank is no longer the strong man he used to be because now he cares less about his responsibilities. For instance, when Mrs. Burridge asks him to repair a hole in the staircase, he remains reluctant. Similarly, Frank's walking strength is declining, which worries Mrs. Burridge about her safety because her husband looks weak and cannot defend her when in need.
"One morning, she goes to the back door and looks out, and there are the columns of smoke, right where she's been expecting to see them, off to the south."
If there is one thing Mrs. Burridge is scared of in her life, it is the occurrence of an apocalypse. Therefore, she looks at the horizon every day, hoping not to see any signal of the apocalypse. Mrs. Burridge fears that in case of an apocalypse, no one will protect her, which might be devastating. One day when she looks at the sky, she sees smoke, and her worse fears are confirmed. Now, Mrs. Burridge has to do something very fast to get the basic commodities she needs to keep safe.
"What if she is wrong and Frank returns after all, what if nothing, really, is the matter?"
Mrs. Burridge is suspicious about everything in her life. She lives on an isolated farm with her aging husband because all their children are grown and have gone to live in different parts of the country. Mrs. Burridge doubts her husband, Frank, in everything because he is no longer active as he used to be in their early days of marriage. At some point, she comforts herself that she is wrong about her husband, but the reality remains the same.
