Chapter 14: Grief

Summary

• Six-Thirty disliked walking past the location where Calvin died whenever he visited the cemetery.
• While at the cemetery, Six-Thirty carefully avoided the groundskeeper and placed daffodils on Calvin's tombstone, which had a partially-engraved quote from Marcus Aurelius.
• The chapter reflects on a past conversation where Elizabeth questioned the limits of language comprehension in dogs.
• Elizabeth and Six-Thirty embarked on a "word quest" with Elizabeth teaching him using children's books.
• Six-Thirty was wary of the groundskeeper who carried a rifle and communicated with both the deceased Calvin and the unborn child in Elizabeth’s belly.
• About three months after Calvin's death, Elizabeth, in a nightgown and galoshes, started demolishing the kitchen with a sledgehammer to build a lab.
• Despite being pregnant and grieving, Elizabeth demonstrated immense capabilities and faced condescension at the lumberyard when gathering materials for her lab.
• Elizabeth charged colleagues from her former workplace for professional advice, creating a no-nonsense pricing strategy for personal or insensitive comments.
• The kitchen was transformed into a laboratory over four months with equipment and safety installations, requiring assistance and learning from Six-Thirty.
• Six-Thirty communicated concerns to Calvin about Elizabeth's unrelenting work, her staring spells, and the impact on the unborn child, as well as the continued but futile word lessons.
• The groundskeeper aimed his rifle at Six-Thirty, but the dog disarmed him, preventing another tragedy and ultimately saving the man's life.
• A reporter who covered the scene recognized Six-Thirty and drove the blood-covered but unharmed dog back home, presenting him as a hero in the news.
• An article was published about Six-Thirty's heroic act, lifting the cemetery dog ban and prompting plans to replace both the groundskeeper and Calvin's damaged grave marker.
• Elizabeth reads the newspaper article and connects a newly broken portion of Calvin's tombstone inscription, "Your days are nu," with a meaningful memory shared with Calvin.