“The Old Man with No Name”
A college student narrates a tale of three elderly residents living on Fess St. The residents are all widows, including Mrs. MacMillan in whose attic he has rented a room. The room offers him a perfect view of the three houses and this story sets the stage for the recurring theme of voyeurism. It also introduces elements of detachment and isolation as three widows steadfastly follow a communal propensity toward refraining from interference in the lives of others. Nothing much happens on Fess St. until one night all hell breaks loose as the narrator spies a series of increasingly tense dramatics involving a man with a gun, one widow appearing to lie dead on the floor, and another widow approaching the scene with a shotgun.
“Joshua Karabish”
The title character of this story is not the narrator himself, but rather the narrator’s friend from college who receives a letter from his mother informing him he has died. The narrator describes Joshua as a loner suffering from some strange medical condition leaving him with a somewhat misshapen head, bulging eyes, leaky ears, and a smell of fish emanating from his bloody nose. Joshua also writes poetry, lots of poetry, but never seeks to publish it. He also claims that he does not want his poems published after his death for fear they will be ridiculed. The narrator ignored his friend’s desires, however, by submitting one of the poems to compete for an award under his own name rather than Joshua’s. The guilt drives the narrator to believe that his betrayal has been punished by becoming victim to the strange disease which plagued Joshua.
“The Family M”
Another narrator relates the story of the title characters, the Meeks. In addition to their last initial, they are deserving of the title because the family is comprised of Melvin, Marion, Mark and Martin. The teller of this tale is, arguably, the most despicable character in the book. He believes, without sufficient proof, that Mark and Martin are guilty of scratching his car. This paranoia leads to his launching a strategy to gain revenge: vending machines will be installed in the apartment complex that will inevitably lead to glass being broken on which the kids will cut themselves. The Meeks are too poor to even afford to buy a soft drink from the machine, however. One day the narrator sees Marion Meeks in a wheelchair outside the building and is suddenly overcome with empathy to the point of requesting that management build ramps. He even considers trying to raise funds among the other residents to buy her a better wheelchair but the family refuse to become charity cases and ultimately move away. Over time, everybody else does as well, leaving him alone and isolated.
“Orez”
The first-person narrator of this story has decided to marry a woman named Hester. Hester’s father gives fair warning to him that if they marry they will suffer grave misfortune tracing back to complications during childbirth that left Hester the only surviving baby among her dead siblings. The warning seems to be well predicated as Hester proceeds to get pregnant a number of times only to suffer miscarriages each time. The fourth pregnancy results in Hester giving birth to a son named Orez. Orez is physically deformed and exhibits unusual behaviors as well. The child causes tremendous anxiety for the parents but nobody else seems to be particularly bothered. Ultimately, the stress of having a child that is not seen as normal leads the narrator to consider sacrificing his son in a re-enactment of the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac.
“Yorrick”
The narrator is lovestruck past the point of obsession to a place verging on dangerous stalking. He meets a woman named Catherine, another attic room renter, and becomes one himself by renting out the attic room in the house across the street. It is clear that his love is not requited and that she is actually in love with the title character. Invited to a party at which both will be attending, the narrator acts out his frustrations with what seems to be a harmless prank that becomes a potentially tragic decision.
“Mrs. Elberhart”
A woman named Mrs. Elberhart is the object of this narrator’s attention, but not in quite the same way as Catherine is to the narrator in “Yorrick.” The narrator is actually more obsessed with the woman’s yard which he views as not being properly kept up, dirty and unkempt. This bothers him so much that he writes mean letters to her. Then one day he discovers that the yard has been cleaned up. At the same time, however, she has disappeared. He discovers she has been hospitalized and pays her a visit. The experience may have been enough to cause yet another transformation of empathy.
“Charles Lebourne”
Another narrator is hyper-focused on another living space across from his own. It seems to be more grandly illuminated than it should be and definitely is brighter inside thanks to a large lamp. The narrator becomes obsessed with the other apartment building because it is bigger, better, and brighter than where he lives. He relates how his own life has been a series of disappointments. The narrator discovers the occupant is named Charles Lebourne and becomes convinced that he is his long-lost father who years ago abandoned his mother. The time for a reckoning of some sort has come and he must now decide whether to reach out for contact with his father or wreak vengeance upon the man who devastated his mother.
