The Bad Weather Friend

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, addiction, and child abuse.

The novel opens with two epigraphs. The first reads, “Man is born unto trouble / as sure as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). The second reads, “Humor is emotional chaos / remembered in tranquility,” and is attributed to James Thurber.

Two freight workers arrive at Talmadge Clerkenwell’s warehouse in Florida to pick up a crate for air freight transport. Clerkenwell is an old man sporting a white three-piece suit, a large mustache, and a goatee. The crate weighs over 3,000 pounds. Though Clerkenwell claims that it contains books, the workers suspect that it may contain something illegal. However, Clerkenwell has such an air of kindness and trustworthiness that they accept the job.

While driving the crate to the airport and loading it onto the plane, they debate the contents. One insists that Clerkenwell is eccentric but harmless, so the contents of the crate must be safe. That night, he dreams about Clerkenwell. In the dream, Clerkenwell urges him to forget about the crate, and when he awakens, he has.