Tilt

In the novel’s present timeline, Annie walks across the Colwood Golf Center in Northeast Portland, still disoriented after escaping from the IKEA store. She approaches a group aiding a severely injured cyclist named Becky, and Annie joins the rescue effort alongside Becky’s husband, a man wearing a bloody tie, and a woman in a baseball hat. Annie helps position Becky’s injured neck and places the green caterpillar toy next to her to comfort her. Becky’s husband leaves to seek help, asking the others to stay with Becky; however, the woman in the baseball hat soon departs, citing concern for her children, followed by the man with the bloody tie.

Left alone with Becky, who is dying, Annie retrieves Becky’s water bottle from a ravine and attempts to give her water. As she tends to Becky, Annie recalls her mother’s death from COVID-19 when Annie was 29. When Becky stops breathing and dies, Annie feels Bean move inside her, which brings her overwhelming relief. Prioritizing survival for herself and her unborn child, Annie apologizes to Becky’s body, takes the water bottle, drinks all the water, and discards it before running away, still carrying the green caterpillar toy that is now stained with Becky’s blood.

In a flashback, Annie and Dom attend an earthquake-preparedness class. Dom is conducting research for an acting role as a geologist, and Annie has no other plans on the weekend, so she accompanies him. In the class, a geologist details the catastrophic potential of a major Cascadia subduction zone earthquake, criticizing Portland’s lack of infrastructure and school safety and its poor building standards. The expert advises parents to purchase rescue tools like crowbars and flashlights to rescue their children from brick school buildings, warning that a devastating quake could strike anytime in the next 50 years. Annie finds herself disturbed by the projected images of disaster.

After class, Annie and Dom walk home through Mount Tabor Park, with Dom dismissing the warnings while suggesting that they move away from Portland. Annie internally rejects leaving the city, reflecting on her deep connection to Portland and memories of her mother. Although Annie suggests getting an earthquake preparation kit, they only end up purchasing walkie-talkies, which remain unused and untested in a closet. 

In the present, Annie acknowledges that they never properly prepared for the disaster that eventually struck.

Annie walks through a damaged industrial area, hungry and desperately needing a bathroom. Passing cars ignore her. She enters a looted convenience store to use its damaged bathroom, and she then eats the Goldfish crackers and drinks the warm chocolate milk she finds on the store shelves. She joins a crowd outside that is listening to a radio broadcast, though Annie can’t make out the words. A woman with a cane and dog shares news that the Morrison Bridge is the only one that remains standing and that there are fires burning in St. Johns. Annie continues walking toward Dom’s café, observing extensive damage and distressed people throughout the devastated city.

She finally arrives at Dom’s damaged and empty café. Annie questions a man at a nearby marijuana shop, and he says that he hasn’t seen Dom. While eating a stale croissant and drinking seltzer outside the café, Gretchen, Dom’s coworker and the café owner’s daughter, finds Annie and reveals that Dom took the day off for a play rehearsal downtown. Annie is initially confused by this news since Dom told her that he would give up on the rehearsal and pick up his shift at the café instead after their argument the previous night; however, when she realizes that he lied to her about this and went ahead with his plans to attend the rehearsal, she becomes angry. Despite Gretchen’s warnings about the chaos downtown, Annie decides that she must go find Dom and begins walking toward the city center, still carrying the green caterpillar toy for comfort.

Annie tells Bean about how she discovered she was pregnant with her. In a flashback, she realizes that her period is late and buys a pregnancy test that returns a positive result when she takes it at work. She processes her shock and longing, reflecting on her fantasies of motherhood while refraining from immediately calling Dom, who is in a rehearsal. Stuck in traffic afterward, Annie talks to her unborn baby, whom she calls Bean, wishing that she could share the news with her deceased mother.

That night, Annie attends the opening night of Dom’s play, Alice in Wonderland, where he performs as the King of Hearts. Watching him onstage, Annie feels a powerful connection to Dom as the father of her child. After the performance, Annie meets Dom backstage, but before she can share her news, Dom intuits that she is pregnant. They embrace, overwhelmed with emotion, and confirm their mutual happiness about the baby. They describe themselves as “Broadway happy” and “Pulitzer happy” (98), referencing their artistic aspirations.