The Living

“The ocean still whispering, same as before. Like nothing whatsoever has happened, and nothing will.” 

After witnessing David Williamson throw himself into the ocean, Shy is shaken by the way the ocean is completely unchanged after taking a life. This is the moment when Shy’s fear of the ocean as a personified entity begins to set in. He realizes that, if the ocean takes him next, it will still be as if nothing has happened.

“The bank sponsor came out to half-court and presented Shy with an oversized check. Two Gs. Shy held it up, almost laughing. Because nothing like this was supposed to happen to some anonymous kid like him. He was just a dude from down by the border. Didn’t they know?” 

After winning $2,000 for making a series of free throws at a basketball game, Shy feels out of place. This moment reflects the way he sees himself—as “some anonymous kid” who doesn’t belong. Shy later tells his mother to give the money to his sister for Miguel’s medical treatments.

“Shy pictured the last few hours of his grandma’s life. How she started clawing at her own skin in the hospital bed. His mom crying from outside the quarantine room. Pounding her fists against the thick glass and screaming at the nurses. Shy unable to move or speak or even breathe.” 

Shy remembers his grandmother’s agonizing death from Romero Disease. This is the first death he has witnessed, and he carries the memory with him from this point on. This scene also introduces Romero Disease as a lethal, frightening virus.