Response to Mark McDaniel

In "Five Stoplights" the narrator recalls certain memories he shared with his dying brother Harry, as he drives back from CVS with Harry's pain medication. Lost in thought, the main character almost wrecks his car when he runs a red light. The near-death experience shakes the main character up, and he hopes that his dying brother will experience more profound last thoughts than the one he almost had as his last thought.

I like how the flashbacks coordinate with the red lights. I think the best flashback is the one from the beach, where the narrator finds Harry in the ocean and notices that his back is very sunburned. When I read this part of the flashback, I experienced a sense of foreboding, since I knew that Harry would eventually get melanoma, a type of skin cancer. I wonder if the narrator recalled this certain memory because it makes him feel guilty for not offering Harry more sunscreen for his back? Although the story wasn't long, I felt like I got a good enough feel for most of the characters, especially Harry. He seems like the typical older brother, who hates when his younger siblings (I'm assuming Harry is the oldest) nag at him, as can be seen in the flashback where the narrator is asking him what a whore is. I became really used to reading the flashbacks, so I wasn't expecting the last one to be interrupted by an F150 almost crashing into the narrator's car. I think the almost-wreck was shocking, which I think the writer intended.

Although the narrator is not the main focus of the story, I still don't think it would hurt to give him a name. His name could maybe be added into some of the dialogue in one of the flashbacks. Giving the narrator a name would, to me, make him seem more connected to Chelsea and Harry. There's a part at the beginning of the story where the narrator says, "I wonder if you need water for this, if you do Harry won't be able to take it anymore." This is a pretty intense statement to be left unexplained. I'm assuming that Harry can't swallow, or has a tube or something down his throat that makes it impossible for him to swallow pills. Either way, why was the narrator even sent to get the medicine then, since it was unlikely Harry could take it? I may be missing something here that will be explained in class.