Poignant and fierce, this chapter was a lovely ending to your haunting story. I particularly liked the opening dream/remembrance of the visit to the DMZ for all it said about House's stifled relationships with his father, Stacy, and Crandall: he really exists in a no-man's-land in which all relationships are seen at an impossible distance through cold spyglasses. The hints of his mother's wry humor and Stacy's voice, cramped with regret and stymied love, were perfection.

-- blacktop