Written On The Body

The narrator waits for an update of Louise’s medical condition, which Elgin had promised to send by March. When nothing arrives, the narrator tries “to take comfort from the flowers, from the steady budding of the trees” (141).

The narrator describes the spring festival held at the wine bar, which involves the employees dressing in green body stockings and wearing floral wreaths on their heads. Following an evening at the bar, the bar’s manager, Gail Right, announces that she wishes to see the narrator’s residence. Despite the narrator’s “frozen heart” (142), the narrator invites her in. Gail behaves seductively, and the narrator tells her that there is another woman, providing a short history of the relationship with Louise. The narrator and Gail share a bed; although they do not have sex, the narrator describes physical contact as the narrator’s hands run “over her padded flesh with all the enthusiasm of a second-hand sofa dealer” (144). The following morning, the narrator bikes to a phone booth to call Elgin, who says that Louise is recovering in Switzerland and does not wish to see the narrator.

The narrator brings Gail a cup of tea while Gail is in the bath, noting that she looks like “a prime cut of streaky bacon” (147).