45 pages 1 hour read

Morgan Talty

Night of the Living Rez

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2022

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“Half-Life”Chapter Summaries & Analyses

“Half-Life” Summary

Dee and Fellis awake inside of a silo surrounded by empty beer cans. Neither remembers entering the silo or drinking. Dee asks Fellis for “pins”—slang for the benzodiazepines they’ve been taking—but Fellis says he’s left them at home. They head back, but Fellis can’t find the drugs there either.

The next day, Dee and his mother head to the nursing home to visit Dee’s grandmother. Despite her memory problems, Dee’s grandmother seems to remember who Dee is. They discuss the $5,000 that she won playing bingo and her plans to use the money to remodel her kitchen. Driven by his addiction, Dee heads to his grandmother’s empty house to find the money for more pins. He finds a safe under her bed with a key in the lock. Inside, he finds a manila envelope with his name on it with money inside. As he’s counting it, a car pulls up outside of the house and Dee, taking the key with him, hides in a closet. His mother searches the room he’s in for something she can’t find and, approaching the closet, realizes there’s someone inside. Dee escapes by covering himself in his grandmother’s clothes and fleeing before his mother can recognize him.