Proserpina’s father dies attempting to install one of the new electrical light bulbs; the handyman whispers to her, over a shared cigarette, that he didn’t dance and scream the way people who die of electrocution are said to do. He opened his eyes very wide, arched his back and stood still.

After the funeral she goes to the basement and hits six boards until she opens up all the old scars on her right hand, until her wrist shoots red lines up to her shoulder. She wants to switch to her left hand, but she can’t make it form a fist.