Fever Dream

Amanda wakes Nina up and helps her pack her things, reluctant to be separated from her daughter for even a moment. However, as she packs, Amanda starts to think that her fear validates Carla’s crazy story. Instead of leaving immediately, she decides to apologize to the woman and convince her that nothing is wrong with David. In the hospital bed, David tells Amanda that this is “a mistake”; it is the moment where everything will start to go wrong.

Amanda drives to the farm where Carla works. She tells the other woman that her husband needs her back in the city, but Carla insists on showing Amanda Omar’s stables before she leaves. Amanda agrees, and she and Nina go outside, waiting for Carla to finish her work. In the driveway, a group of men unload large plastic drums from the back of a truck. They wear plastic gloves for protection, and Nina sits in the grass, fascinated by the activity.

David interrupts to tell Amanda that they have arrived at the important moment. He presses her to describe the details of the scene, but Amanda insists that there is nothing else. She feels no sense of danger. On the contrary, everything “happens slowly and pleasantly” (86). She and Nina enjoy watching the men work; nothing is out of place. When Nina stands up, however, she complains that she is wet. Amanda notices that her clothes are wet, too, but she tells her daughter it’s just dew and will dry quickly. Nina sniffs her hands, saying that they smell “really gross.” David keeps interjecting, insisting that Amanda pay close attention, that the danger is imminent.

Amanda starts to feel the rescue distance tighten, but she still doesn’t understand the danger. She forgets about the liquid she assumes is dew and goes with Carla to Omar’s stables. The stables consist only of burned ruins and an old well, which Nina dances around. Carla tells Amanda more about David after his illness. She says that first, the spots on his skin upset her. Soon, however, she noticed more sinister things. He would answer questions with the phrase, “That is not important” (96), something he had never done before. One day, Carla saw David doing something in the backyard. She went out to check on him and found him digging a hole with a plastic shovel. A dead duck lay on the ground next to him. Carla watched as David buried the creature with tears streaming down his cheeks. A few days later, another duck stumbled into their yard and fell dead right before David. Slowly, a collection of little graves grew in the backyard as David added more ducks and even a dog to his graveyard.