The Life of Chuck

The story begins in a world experiencing a slow-motion apocalypse. The internet is failing, infrastructure is collapsing, and natural disasters are becoming commonplace. Marty Anderson, a high school English teacher, is stuck in traffic caused by a collapsed bridge when he notices a large billboard on the Midwest Trust building. It features a smiling, moon-faced man named Charles Krantz, with the text: "39 GREAT YEARS! THANKS, CHUCK!" Marty has never heard of him. Later, he speaks with his ex-wife, Felicia, a nurse who reports a spike in suicides at her hospital. She has also heard radio ads for Chuck Krantz, which they both find bizarre. That evening, as Marty tries to watch Netflix, the image of Chuck Krantz takes over his screen just before the internet connection fails completely.

The next day, the societal breakdown has worsened. Marty learns from his neighbor, Gus Wilfong, that a massive sinkhole has opened downtown, leaving the Midwest Trust building teetering on its edge. Gus also reports on other catastrophic events and speculates that humanity is in the final stage of grief, accepting its end. As they speak, a skywriting plane spells out the same message about Chuck Krantz. Marty later encounters a bank employee who confirms that ads and graffiti celebrating Chuck are everywhere, though no one knows who he is. Deciding he does not want to face the end alone, Marty walks to Felicia’s house. When he reaches her neighborhood, the power grid fails, and the image of Chuck Krantz supernaturally appears on the darkened windows of every house. He finds Felicia, and they embrace.

The perspective then shifts to a hospital room, revealing the source of the cataclysm. Charles “Chuck” Krantz, a 39-year-old accountant, is dying of an inoperable brain tumor. His world, the one Marty Anderson inhabits, is the universe contained within his consciousness, which is now collapsing. At his bedside are his high school-aged son, Brian, and his brother-in-law, Douglas Beaton. Doug explains his philosophy that when a person dies, the entire world they have perceived and created in their mind also falls to ruin. Chuck’s wife, Ginny, joins them, and the family holds hands as Chuck takes his final breaths. Doug says, “Thirty-nine years. Thirty-nine great years. Thanks, Chuck.” The narrative returns to Marty and Felicia, who watch the stars blink out until only darkness remains.

The story then moves backward in time to nine months before Chuck’s death. In Boston, a young street drummer named Jared Franck is setting up his kit. Nearby, a young woman, Janice Halliday, is distraught after being dumped via text message. Chuck Krantz, in town for an accounting conference, is walking down the street. He is 38 and has just begun experiencing the severe headaches that are the first sign of his tumor. Hearing Jared’s drumming, Chuck is reminded of his youth and, on a sudden impulse, drops his briefcase and begins to dance. His joyful, uninhibited performance attracts a large crowd. He spots Janice in the crowd and invites her to dance with him. She accepts, and they perform a spontaneous, energetic dance that delights the onlookers, who fill Jared’s hat with money. Afterward, Jared insists on splitting the earnings three ways. The three strangers share a moment of connection in Boston Common, with Jared suggesting they could become a professional act. Chuck and Janice decline, and they part ways after a group hug, calling themselves “Buskers forever.” As Chuck walks back to his hotel, his head throbbing, the narrator notes that this memory of pure, unexpected joy will be one of the last to fade as his illness consumes him.

The final act moves further back to Chuck’s childhood. At age seven, after his parents die in a car crash, he is raised by his paternal grandparents, Albie and Sarah, in their old Victorian house. The house has a locked cupola which his grandparents claim is unsafe. As Sarah recovers from her grief, she teaches Chuck to dance in their kitchen. One night, an intoxicated Albie tells Chuck the cupola is haunted by visions of future deaths, mentioning a local boy who was killed and a man named Henry Peterson who died by suicide. He also makes a cryptic reference to “Sarah, and the bread.” Chuck confirms these deaths occurred as his grandfather described and grows fearful that Albie has foreseen Sarah’s death. In sixth grade, a teacher introduces Chuck to Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself,” and the line “I am large, I contain multitudes” deeply affects him. His teacher explains that his mind contains his entire perceived world. Shortly after, Sarah dies of a stroke at a convenience store while reaching for a loaf of bread.

To cope with his grief, Chuck joins a school dance club and becomes a skilled dancer. At a school dance, he and a girl from his dance club, Cat McCoy, perform a show-stopping routine. Afterward, in a moment of euphoria, he dances alone outside and accidentally cuts his hand on a chainlink fence, leaving a small, crescent-shaped scar he will carry for life. Four years later, Albie dies of a heart attack. Before his other relatives arrive, Chuck finds his grandfather’s keys and unlocks the cupola. The room is empty, but as he turns to leave, he has a vision of an older version of himself, unconscious in a hospital bed, with the same crescent-shaped scar on his hand. He hears the faint beep of a heart monitor. Realizing he has seen his own death, Chuck recalls the Whitman poem and resolves to live his life fully. He closes the door to the cupola and locks it.