Summary

Dark Lady – The elderly Marjorie (“Jorrie”) reads obituaries every morning. She now makes a social life by attending funerals with her twin brother, Martin (“Tin”). The two do almost everything together. They even know what the other may be talking about when no one else does, which annoys others. They have had a difficult childhood, dealing with a mother who stole money from them to drink following the death of their father. Jorrie and Tin often reflect on how they used to intentionally antagonize their mother because of this. While looking through the obituaries one morning, Jorrie discovers that Gavin has died. Jorrie used to be a bookkeeper for the Riverboat, so she knew Gavin and numerous other poets who spent time there. She reflects on how she inspired Gavin to write a suite of poetry called “The Dark Lady”.

She...