Summary

Two nights before the death of her father, Bechdel recalls having dreamt of the two of them at the Bullpen, going up the mountain to see the sunset. But by the time her father arrived, the sunset had gone. Bechdel afterwards considered that the dream was a premonition of her father’s death. Reflecting on the dream in the present, Bechdel wonders if her father’s life might have turned out differently if he had lived somewhere else. She explains that the mountainous geography of the region in which they grew up, despite roads going around the mountains, kept the town isolated. Still, the area was beautiful, Bechdel remembers. She recalls how she dabbled in poetry and art as a child. She also remembers how her father bought her a “Wind in the Willows” coloring book in which he...