The Lock Artist

Mike’s narrative returns to the present. He has been in prison for almost 10 years. “Sleepy Eyes ended up living,” Mike explains. “And in the end he was worth a lot more to me alive than dead” (302). Mike has been sentenced to a prison term of “at least ten years and no more than twenty-five” (303). About four years into his term, he received a letter—a comic strip—from Amelia. In it she had drawn herself in a wedding dress driving past Mike’s childhood home in Detroit to the river where he nearly died. She takes off her clothes, dives in, and transforms into a mermaid. She finds the safe at the bottom of the river and opens it. Mike emerges, saying, “What took you so long” (304)—out loud. They have continued corresponding through comic strips in the five and a half years since. He knows she is waiting for him when he gets out of prison. He has not yet spoken a word aloud, but he imagines that he might when he is finally released.