Summary

In “Later,” Jamie Conklin, the first-person narrator of the novel, apologizes for using the word “later” (16) so frequently. He explains he was young when the story started, but he has grown and matured to the point that he has come to understand how things that happened earlier in his life were significant. He tells his reader he thinks what he has written qualifies as a “horror story” (16).

In Chapter 1, Jamie remembers walking home from school with his mother, holding the picture of a Thanksgiving turkey he had drawn in the first grade. His mother, Tia, a literary agent, was concentrating more on a book she was trying to sell than the turkey. Jamie notes his mother took over the Conklin Literary Agency from his Uncle Harry the previous year.

Jamie foreshadows that it was on this day that his mother decided he...