The Emperor of Gladness

An unidentified narrator describes in detail the town of East Gladness in New England, located along the banks of the Connecticut River. After detailing the flora and fauna, infrastructure, and generic residents of the town, the narrator touches upon King Philip’s Bridge across the river— “the last way out of town” (6). A 19-year-old boy crosses the bridge on a rainy September 15 in 2009, and prepares to jump off the rail.

As the boy lifts himself over the railing, he spots another platform lower down that will break his fall, so he climbs down onto it. He hesitates as he prepares to jump, stunned when he sees what looks like a corpse floating on the water below him. The boy hears a voice calling him and spots an old woman doing her laundry on the riverbank; he realizes the “corpse” is a bedsheet.

As the old woman spots the boy, she commands him to climb to safety, dismissing the boy’s claims that he wasn’t going to jump. She orders him to come over to her house, threatening to call the police otherwise. Once inside, the woman gives the boy a cigarette and a towel to dry himself.