Meanwhile
By Matthew Baker, first published in Washington Square Review
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Plot Summary
Two brothers, Taylor and Corey Watterson, swim in a lake while their dog waits on the shore. As they’re swimming, Paul Bott feeds chocolate to their dog to poison it while Ben Isaac and Steve DeBoer watch from the woods. In the Watterson’s cottage, their father washes his hands repeatedly, thinking about bacteria, sickness, and disease in order to avoid thinking about his wife at the psychiatric facility.
The whole town is full of people going about their mundane lives, all of them sick or suffering from something, all of them full of desires. (You could give a few specific examples here from the townspeople).
Meanwhile, Mr. Steven Deboer Sr. supervises some of the patients at the psychiatric home as they stare at the lake. Mr. Watterson rewashes his hands as Paul feeds chocolate to his dog. Taylor and Corey dive toward the shells at the bottom of the lake as their mother stands in front of the psychiatric home feeling the wind rustling her gown and thinking about the shapes she’s taken, the shapes they've all taken.
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