The Humans

The lightbulb over the stairs burns out as well, and Deirdre jokes that the woman with no face in Erik’s dreams is back. Deirdre laughs and takes a flashlight to go upstairs to use the bathroom. Brigid tells a confused Aimee who the woman is and storms away from the table. Erik follows her and gives her a big hug, breaking the tension between them. Aimee takes Brigid into the kitchen as they start clearing the table, leaving Erik and Richard alone.

Richard starts talking about dreams again, and Erik admits that there was more to his dream with the woman with no face. He tells Richard that the woman is trying to get him into a tunnel, he doesn’t move. Richard explains that he learned in a class that the image of a tunnel is ingrained in the human psyche, going back thousands of years, and that tunnels can represent things hidden from people. He encourages Erik to go into the tunnel the next time he dreams. A loud rumble interrupts them, and Richard assures Erik that it is just the trash compactor.

Aimee and Brigid return from the kitchen and start poking fun at an email that Deirdre sent them recently. It was about how everyone and everything are electrons and a part of everything. Aimee believes that it had religious undertones, citing the fact that it had a poem in many fonts and was flagged as a security risk by her work email. Erik tells them that they need to write back to Deirdre. Deirdre, meanwhile, is at the top of the stairs, listening. She goes back to shut the bathroom door again, letting those below know that she is returning. She walks down the stairs as Momo mumbles in her sleep, “[Y]ou can never come back” (117).

With Deirdre back from the bathroom, Erik suggests that they smash the peppermint pig. Brigid and Aimee explain the rules to Richard and make him go first. He smashes the pig and says that he is thankful for falling in love with Brigid and meeting the Blakes. Erik goes next and is thankful for the love and support of his family, no matter what. Deirdre tells her daughters that she is thankful for them and passes it to Brigid. She tells them all that she is thankful that Erik never went to the observation deck and that Momo is still with them. She also believes that she is lucky, like Erik said, that she can pursue her passion. Brigid also tells her family that if she were to die, she wants to be cremated, explaining that she could not think of a less awkward or morbid way to tell them. Aimee makes fun of her before taking the pig and telling her family that she is thankful she has them to lean on during such a tumultuous year for her personally.

Wanting to include Momo, Erik suggests that they read Momo’s email to Brigid and Aimee, which she wrote before she got very sick. Deirdre reads it, knowing that Erik will choke up before he finishes. In the email, Momo acknowledges that her condition is getting worse and that she is becoming more confused, often forgetting Brigid and Aimee’s names. She tells the sisters not to worry about her once she forgets everything. She feels as though she spent her life worrying about things she did not need to and that it was not worth it. She was particularly scared of dancing at weddings. She wants the sisters to dance more than she did. She tells them that this is her goodbye to them and that she loves them more than they know. When Deirdre finishes, they all take a piece of the peppermint pig.

Erik is more drunk than he thought, not used to driving on Thanksgiving, and Aimee demands that she order a car for him, Deirdre, and Momo. Brigid tells Erik that he can take the bus into the city the next weekend to help them paint and get the car. Erik brushes them off, but Aimee insists and goes upstairs to order the car. She makes the call and charges it to her personal account at work, though Erik follows her and takes the phone, making the order himself.

Downstairs, Deirdre watches Brigid and Richard in the kitchen from the table. She is overcome with emotion, witnessing how close the two are with each other. Erik and Aimee return, and Aimee tells Deirdre that she will ride with them to the train station. Richard brings out dessert, and when Deirdre laments her Weight Watchers routine, Erik picks a pastry out for her. She is hurt by this and decides to bring Momo upstairs for the bathroom. Erik asks Richard to help her, despite Brigid’s offer to do so, and keeps the sisters downstairs.

Erik tells his daughters that he and Deirdre might be moving. They begin asking questions, but he pushes through, saying that they sold the lake property and that he lost his job at the school, making their financial situation tenuous. Erik explains that the school fired him before he could fully qualify for his pension; he now works at a Walmart a few towns over. He reveals that the school fired him because of their morality code, as he had an affair with a teacher. He assures Brigid and Aimee that he and Deirdre are fine and that they are working through it.

Brigid grows angry, while Aimee asks Erik how bad the money situation is. He reveals that they are struggling because of the cost of Momo’s care. Erik brushes off Aimee’s suggestion that she help them, not wanting her to worry and to instead focus on her own health issues. Deirdre enters the apartment upstairs with Momo and eavesdrops from the top of the stairs while Richard waits with Momo by the bathroom. When Erik tells Brigid and Aimee that he and Deirdre plan to sell the house and move to an apartment, Aimee asks about their savings and is shocked to find that they are all gone because of Momo’s care.

Brigid and Aimee start bickering, unhappy with the other’s reaction to this news, and Erik has to stop them. Brigid spirals and questions if her parents are okay, with Erik not sleeping and Deirdre “eating her feelings” (135). Deirdre, who begins descending the stairs, hears this, and when Aimee points her out to Brigid, Brigid apologizes and rushes to her mother with Aimee in tow. Deirdre brushes her daughters off, telling them to stay with their father. Brigid becomes frustrated as Momo begins to mutter more and more, growing louder. When thuds start up from the floor above, Brigid storms out in frustration to talk to the neighbors. Richard follows her.

Deirdre needs water, and Aimee accompanies her downstairs while Erik looks after Momo, who is having a fit and yelling nonsensically. Erik is terrified even though he is familiar with this, and he wheels her around, trying to calm her. Downstairs, Deirdre and Aimee sit, and Deirdre tries to tell Aimee that her email wasn’t religious but scientific. Aimee apologizes, but Deirdre insists that she needs the bathroom and goes back upstairs. When she passes Erik, he tries to hug her and apologize, saying that he loves her, but she brushes him aside and takes Momo to the bathroom.

Aimee joins Erik but then says that she needs to go for a walk to clear her head. Before she leaves, Erik admits that he can’t sleep because he worries about losing his family. He tells her that he thinks of the day of the terrorist attack, when he saw a fireman carrying the body of a woman wearing the same suit as Aimee. She was covered in ash, and it made it look like her whole face was gone. He realizes what he sees in his dreams.

Pots and pans crash in the kitchen, and Erik goes to investigate. As he does so, Aimee returns and announces that the car is there for them. Erik gathers their things while Deirdre leaves the bathroom with Momo and wheels her out with Aimee. Before leaving, though, Deirdre takes the statue of the Virgin Mary and places it on the windowsill. Downstairs, the last light bulbs burn out, leaving Erik in the dark.

Erik finds the LED lantern, turns it on, and uses a chair to prop the door to the basement level open, letting in a single shaft of light. Though he is alone, the apartment is loud, with thuds from above and the noise of the trash compactor filling the apartment. When a Chinese woman walks past the basement door with her laundry, Erik becomes overwhelmed and begins sobbing, wondering if he is having a panic attack. He collects himself. Upstairs, Brigid reenters the apartment and calls for Erik, saying that she will go with them and take the subway back from Penn Station.

Now alone in the dark apartment, Erik looks around. The light from the open basement door gives the room a tunnel-like appearance. He collects himself and walks out, the door closing behind him as the door’s weight forces the chair to move.