No Telephone to Heaven

In London, Clare meets an African American Vietnam veteran named Bobby. They embark on a romantic relationship together, and Clare leaves the university so that they can travel Europe as a pair. Clare exchanges a series of letters with Harry/Harriet about their relationship, and Harry/Harriet congratulates her. Harry/Harriet also mentions that Clare’s aunt and uncle have fled Jamaica for Miami, and Clare’s grandmother has left Clare her land.

Bobby has a wound on his ankle where his skin splits open and “yellowness drip[s] from a bright pink gap” (143). Clare attempts to heal the wound—applying a variety of ointments and tinctures—but it never improves. Bobby’s explanations for the wound also vary, but ultimately, he claims the only thing that matters is “that it [will] always be his—something he must learn to live with” (147). He asks her to “bury her curiosity” because his “war cannot serve [her] purpose” (151).

The novel explains that Bobby suffers from a strange reoccurring nightmare (which he does not tell Clare about) wherein he must harvest American organs from a sea of cloudy water, carrying them in a green Glad bag. In the nightmare, he always encounters a petite white woman whom a group of soldiers holds and kills.