Chapter Eleven, The Night Shift Summary

He and Michael go to the Lion's Head for dinner. They talk about the narrator's marriage to Amanda. Michael bluntly says he never liked her because she was fake. He asks if perhaps their mother's illness might have influenced the narrator's decision to marry her. The narrator recalls his intense desire to please his mother, his dread of her impending death, and the emotional shock that seemed to follow her death.

"After the funeral it seemed as if you were wandering around your own interior looking for signs of life, finding nothing but empty rooms and white walls. You kept waiting for the onset of grief. You are beginning to suspect it arrived nine months later, disguised as your response to Amanda's departure."

They drink and talk and the differences between them seem to subside...