“On my walk home I stopped in front of an electronics store, the front window was a grid of televisions, all but one of them were showing the buildings, the same images over and over, as if the world itself were repeating, a crowd had gathered on the sidewalk, one television, off to the side, was showing a nature program, a lion eating a flamingo, the crowd became noisy, someone who didn't mean to holler hollered, pink feathers, I looked at one of the other televisions and there was only one building, one hundred ceilings had become nothing, I was the only one who could believe it, the sky was filled with paper, pink feathers” (272).
In this scene, the grandfather remembers 9/11 and reflects on where he was when the event occurred. Once again, he speaks in a disjointed, stream of consciousness that blurs the lines of fantasy and reality, as it is confusing whether his accountant of the experience is fully accurate. This portion of the novel is also a component of its overall pastiche form, as this excerpt is told from the future in order to piece together the story. In this scene, there are also further references to animals, which is a recurring theme throughout the novel. The lion killing the flamingo is representative of the attacks taking place. This parallel is created in order to once again highlight the unrestrained, savage, and animalistic nature of war. Moreover, it is interesting that the grandfather takes notice of the one television playing a scene from the nature channel. The grandfather seems relatively calm, serving in sharp contrast with the surrounding scene. This helps accentuate the events taking place around him, and makes them appear even more tragic, while also showing how helpless and insignificant any of the grandfather’s actions or emotions are.
