1. October 17, 2012

Summary

• The old city and the lake it's built beside are no longer in good shape, but affluent areas like Sugar Heights still retain their beauty, with Ridge Road being particularly nice.
• Deerfield Park is a well-maintained public space, though it has an unkempt area known as the Thickets where some criminal activities occur.
• Jorge Castro, an American-born professor of creative writing and Latin American literature, is out running despite the drizzle.
• Reflecting on aging, Jorge acknowledges that he must take care of his health to avoid deterioration.
• The old poet observes Jorge running by and contemplates writing a poem.
• Jorge stops to help an elderly couple, Emily and Mr. Harris, with their van; they trick him, and he is rendered unconscious.
• Jorge wakes up in a basement cage, nauseated and disoriented, surrounded by items suggesting a long stay including a Porta-John and soundproof ceiling.
• Emily Harris brings him raw liver and a drink supplement, which Jorge refuses; she insists he will eat it.
• Jorge refuses to eat the liver, pleading for more water, but Emily refuses until he eats.
• Mr. Harris dismisses Jorge's refusal of the food and reinserts the rejected tray into Jorge's cage.
• Jorge becomes desperately thirsty and eventually eats the liver and drinks the blood to get water.
• He pleads for a reason for his treatment, but Emily only taunts him with a homophobic slur before leaving him again.