Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket is a story about Tom, a man who lives a great life, yet has become so obsessed with work that he forgets to appreciate what he has. In the story, he's described as having a high-paying job, a beautiful wife, and overall being fairly content with himself. In spite of all this, he spends most of his time working instead of appreciating what he has worked for, made apparent by him declining to go to the movies with his wife. Things take a turn for the worst when a yellow paper containing all the studies he's conducted suddenly flies out the window, landing on a ledge outside.
Since Tom lives high up in an apartment building, retrieving the paper would be no easy task as he would have to shimmy his way on over to the paper completely unharness, with a huge risk of slipping and falling. One thing that really stood out to me about this book is the incredibly strong sense of dread, not knowing if Tom was going to fall really kept me on my toes. Every little mistake could potentially lead to his doom. When he goes to reach the paper, he looks down for a split second and gets incredibly nervous. He realizes the height he is at and suddenly what was described as being fairly trivial for him becomes a grueling process. The story goes very far with trying to push a sense of dread onto the reader, and boy did it work.
From here on out it really goes into detail what's going through Tom's mind, and how much effort goes into each inch he moves. He finally makes it back to his window, but after a near fall he accidentally shuts it, leaving him with no way to get inside. After trying to pry it open a few times, Tom uses the moment to reflect on himself, what he just went through. He realizes that maybe it isn't worth it to risk your life for your job, and had he died he would've wanted to have done more with his life. He goes through his options, whether he should wait for his wife to get back or if he should strike the window as hard as he can to potentially break it and get through. After a bit of contemplation, he discards waiting and decides to go for the punch. This is where the dread climaxes. It is made apparent that if he does not strike with enough power to shatter the window, the recoil will knock him off his feet, causing his death. Needless to say, by this point I was really worried for him.
He ends up breaking through the window, and makes it back home safe, yellow paper and all. That is, until, another gust of wind drags the yellow paper out the now broken window, disregarding his struggle. Instead of collapsing in frustration, he laughs. I think the story is a great demonstration on how to use dread in books, and how to really evoke emotion out of the reader.
Definitely a great read, the ambience was very detailed, and I could picture the scene all in my head thanks to the great descriptions. In conclusion, I believe the moral of the story is to really appreciate one's life, as it might not be around for as long as you expect.
By Andrés Díaz Mosquera, Step 10 Blue
