Medicine Walk

Eldon dies. Frank senses Eldon get up and “leave in the darkness” (235). In a symbolic gesture, Frank sits up and throws wood on the fire that “sent embers arcing high into the night and he watched climb and peak and fall” (235). After a time, he reaches over and draws the outline of Eldon’s face with his finger. Frank traces the lines of his own face with the same finger. Frank places his hand on Eldon’s heart, and Frank does the same with his own heart: It is “like a benediction” (236).

Frank buries Eldon. After he places Eldon’s body in the ground, he fills in the hole and says, “War’s over, Eldon […] I hope when you get to where you’re goin’ that she’s standing there waitin’ for you” (238). 

Frank rides home and finds Bunky working on a carpentry project in the barn. Without saying anything, Frank starts to help him. They talk about Eldon, and Bunky expresses his sympathy. Bunky says that Eldon “had a weight to him like he was luggin’ sacks of grain uphill but he never spoke of it” (243). Frank doesn’t know how to feel, and Bunky says that loss can leave a hole in one’s being.