Alan is a young man from an upper-middle-class family, a reluctant student at New York University, and a lost soul. Because he doesn’t know who he is anymore. All his life he’s reached for the goals his parents set for him, invariably coming up short. To his mother, he’s been a failure, lost in the shadow of his bright, lovely sister. But now his sister is gone. His mother is missing. And Alan must face up to the part he played in losing them. “This Life” explores the price of avoiding blame and the limits life imposes when we wait too long to pay it.
Like so many of the stories in That Very Place, the idea for this one came out of the blue. I exited Penn Station early one winter morning and stood waiting to cross 7th Avenue. Beside me was a young man who looked bewildered, lost. He seemed unable to move when the light turned green. All that day, I wondered what was wrong. “This Life” was my answer.
