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Nonetheless, they do not think of the children and decide on a divorce. But the non-hero can never let ill enough alone. Nathan and Amy are clinching at the close: "Her hands told me that she needed me and . . . the shrill keening of the vacuum cleaner in the next room suddenly seemed like music to me, a wail of desperation, perhaps, but more than that, a sound of effort and hope."
This story may appeal to fans of vacuum keening. For others it will seem only a smooth and utterly mediocre version of an over-familiar American morality play.