In A Ring of Endless Light (1980, ISBN 0-374-36299-8), Zachary reenters Vicky's life the following summer, having failed to write or call during the period covered in The Young Unicorns. As the story opens, Zach's apparently suicidal behavior in a small boat near fictional Seven Bay Island has, in the eyes of Vicky and her sister, resulted in the death by heart attack of Commander Rodney of the Coast Guard. Vicky and her family are on the island caring for her grandfather, retired Reverend Eaton, who is dying of leukemia. Zach himself has recently experienced the death of his mother "in an automobile accident in California" which he says was "her own fault." This is one of many instances of death and dying mentioned in the book. As Zach competes with Leo Rodney and Adam Eddington for Vicky's attention, he takes her to a concert and up in a plane, but again behaves recklessly, both behind the wheel of a car and during a flying lesson. In a moment of crisis, Zach deserts Vicky at a nearby hospital on the island. He did this not because of selfish reasons, but because the nauseating smell of the hospital reminded him of his time spent there.
Read more about this topic: Zachary Gray
Famous quotes containing the words ring, endless and/or light:
“There is no magic decoding ring that will help us read our young adolescent’s feelings. Rather, what we need to do is hold out our antennae in the hope that we’ll pick up the right signals.”
—The Lions Clubs International and the Quest Nation. The Surprising Years, III, ch.4 (1985)
“who chained themselves to subways for the endless ride from Battery
to holy Bronx on benzedrine until the noise of wheels and children
brought them down shuddering mouth-wracked and battered bleak of brain and drained of brilliance in the drear light of Zoo,”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)
“To the highest leadership among women it is given to hold steadily in one hand the sacred vessels that hold the ancient sanctities of life, and in the other a flaming torch to light the way for oncoming generations.”
—Anna Garlin Spencer (1851–1931)