The Silver-Dollar Scar

The chapter begins with Tova Sullivan, an elderly female worker at Sowell Bay Aquarium, cleaning the floors and removing chewing gum stuck on it.
Despite being the oldest employee, she meticulously carries out her duties every day, including minor cleaning tasks not expected of her due to her age.
As she continues cleaning, she interacts, in her own way, with the various species in the aquarium, until she reaches her favorite, the giant Pacific octopus.
Upon returning to the break room, she finds it in a mess and under a table, discovers the octopus entangled in power cords. After a bit of struggle, she helps free the octopus. It then surprisingly slithers towards her and leaves circular sucker marks on her arm.
To her disbelief, the octopus disappears and she concludes that she was hallucinating, i.e. an early sign of dementia. However, the sucker marks on her arm make her doubt this.
As she finishes her work and bids good night to the sea creatures, she notices the octopus is back in its tank but appearing paler than usual.
Outside the aquarium, Tova looks at the circular mark on her wrist, wondering if it will become a permanent scar as she imagines her deceased son, Erik, holding candles for her under the dark waters.

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