Things We Didn’t See Coming

The narrator helps his father pack the car for a trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Since the narrator is young, this is the first time he’s ever been allowed to help Dad with this task. Though the journey to the grandparents’ farm is short, Dad packs all kinds of supplies: cans of soup, peanut butter, even a first-aid kit. The narrator works quickly, as Dad has asked him “not to make a big deal” of their trip to the neighbors. In passing, the narrator calls his mother “Cate,” despite the fact that Cate would prefer to be called “Mother.”

It is New Year’s Eve. Dad explained to the narrator that this new year would be unlike any other, and that it was important for the family to stay up until midnight. Though Dad is sweating, packing batteries and extra tanks of gas to haul in the trunk, Cate is not working at all. The narrator wants to turn the car key in the ignition, but he resists the urge to break the rules. 

Milo, the 12-year-old neighbor boy, runs up and peppers the narrator with questions. Milo always stresses the narrator out, and tonight is no exception, as he boasts about the New Year’s Eve party he is going to and the amount of money his grandfather makes. Tonight, his grandfather stands to make “125 grand,” because he works in computers and is going to help stop a lot of blackouts.   

Dad reappears from the house, carrying vegetables; the narrator is confused about why they’re bringing vegetables to a farm. When the narrator explains about Milo’s grandfather, Dad snickers that “he’s a dead man.” Cate adds her overnight bag to the pile. She worries the neighbors are judging them, and teases Dad about his anxiety, joking that he should “knock over a bank.” The narrator does not understand this joke.

The family sets out on the road, listening as a radio announcer describes New Year’s parties happening all over the world. Cate snarks that the roads seem pretty empty for doomsday, a comment that upsets Dad. Ignoring Cate, Dad starts talking to the narrator “like he's writing one of his letters to the editor.” Dad explains that the world has become too interconnected, and that this degree of “interdependence” is “foolish.”  

The narrator wishes he was on a plane, flying over the world as the clock strikes midnight in time zone after time zone. The narrator decides to save this thought for Grandma, since he knows Dad also thinks planes are unsafe. Cate tries to reassure Dad that they are prepared even if the worst does happen, but the narrator does not know if he trusts Cate’s view. Dad makes eye contact with the narrator in the rearview mirror, and the narrator reflects on their identical green eyes. 

Suddenly, Dad rear ends the car in front of them. The narrator realizes that he had seen the car in front of them slowing down but had been too distracted by staring at Dad’s green eyes to say anything. Cate and Dad begin to squabble, and Cate wants Dad to promise that he'll “be better” after tonight. 

The woman in the other car gets out; she is bundled in such a way that makes it clear her car does not have heat, unlike the narrator’s car. Cate urges Dad to get out of the car, vowing that things will be okay once they reach Grandma’s house. The narrator loves Grandma, who wakes everybody up making pancakes, though he notices that Dad is always quieter there (“because they’re not his parents”). 

Instead of getting out to talk to the woman he hit, Dad keeps driving. The woman, stunned, tries to memorize the family’s license plate. Cate is horrified at her husband’s behavior, telling the narrator “I don’t want you to learn one thing from tonight.” Dad holds himself back from saying anything, and they drive in silence.

When they arrive, Grandma is brushing her hair and wearing her favorite green dress. She gives Cate and the narrator big hugs, and she presses Dad to explain why he packed so many supplies. Dad says he wants to be prepared for “when everything falls apart from interdependence,” and Grandma jokes that “that sounds unpleasant.” The narrator is hungry, but Dad feels he cannot eat. Grandma wonders if Dad is “well,” and tries to lighten the mood by basking in the starry night sky.

A few hours later, Grandpa is telling everyone stories about past New Year’s Eves. As he stares at the fire and eats popcorn, the narrator relaxes; he also admires his grandfather’s beloved clock, the only one Grandpa “trusts.” Grandma talks about how New Year’s Eve is always unpredictable, but Grandpa is sure they will all be fine. The narrator is not persuaded by Grandpa’s calm, announcing that he doesn’t think Grandpa understands computers.

Grandpa pushes back against this comment, and Grandma tells the narrator to bring Dad into the room. But when the narrator checks Dad’s bed (which Grandma has made up like a hotel), there is no one there. The narrator goes outside, and he notices that the car has been partially unpacked. From here, he looks in on Cate and her parents sitting in silence. The narrator wonders if they are bored or just “quietly content.”

The narrator returns and lies to everyone that Dad would prefer to be left alone. Grandma and Grandpa debate whether solitude will help, and Grandpa complains that “it’s always been the end of the world.” Grandpa cites many of the disasters that have happened in the last century (from two world wars to the influenza pandemic), and he wonders why Dad is scared about “a computer glitch.”

Grandpa suggests coffee with Bailey’s, and the narrator is excited—last year, he slept through this part. At the same time, the narrator wants to keep the promise he made Dad that they would be together at midnight. They play Scrabble, and the narrator wonders if the family’s reluctance to turn on the TV is because they don’t want to see it cut out at midnight.

The narrator feigns sleepiness. Before Cate tucks him in, the narrator puts on a pair of heavy socks and slides a flashlight into his pocket. Cate worries that her son has absorbed Dad’s anxieties, but the narrator assures her he is fine. After they both promise to “see you next year,” the narrator sneaks out of bed and puts on all his warmest clothes. Absentmindedly, he wonders if Cate prefers being alone with her parents; maybe it makes her feel like a little kid again. 

The narrator sets off on Grandpa’s old hiking trail, leaving the flashlight and following the moon. Last summer, when the narrator and Dad were hiking together, Dad had found a natural fort, which the narrator felt was “the safest place in the world.” The two had agreed to meet at that spot if anything were ever to go wrong, and now, the narrator knows that Dad is waiting there.

The far-off fireworks pick up as the narrator walks, which means midnight is quickly approaching. While he climbs higher, the narrator reflects on the fact that Dad kept driving after he hit that woman. Though Dad has never broken the law before, the narrator thinks that Dad’s decision to keep driving is the thing that has allowed all three of them to be “safe” tonight. The narrator, starting to get spooked, picks up his pace.

As Dad sees it, once the “fragile system” collapses, everyone will rush to the countryside, trying to get the food and water that can no longer be delivered to urban areas. Cate thinks this is all nonsense, but Dad prides himself on “thinking defensively.” The narrator wonders what the woman they hit is doing, until he spots Dad’s flashlight through the trees. However, when the narrator reaches the clearing, Dad is nowhere to be found—even after the narrator shouts for him. Before he panics, the narrator vows that he has to “start thinking defensively, too.”

Finally, Dad runs down the hill, shirt open and sweaty. It’s midnight, and Dad holds the narrator up so he can see all the fireworks. The narrator wonders if the crisis has already happened, and Dad explains that the chaos will take a few hours to set in. As Dad puts him down, the narrator asks why they could not have brought the woman in the car with them.  Dad wonders if the lights have gone out on Cate and her parents, which he thinks would be “funny.” The narrator doesn’t get the joke.

Dad launches into a monologue: “we are arrogant,” he says of the human race, “a whole species that didn’t think to set its clocks right.” The narrator tries to calm his father down, but Dad just gets more and more upset, arguing that “the future is a hospital” where no amount of tenderness can make things okay. The narrator, freaked out, asks how he can prepare for such a future.

Seeing the narrator’s anxiety stops Dad in his tracks. Dad wraps his son in a bear hug and starts apologizing over and over again. The narrator realizes that the lights probably aren’t going to fail, and he quotes one of Grandpa’s favorite sayings: “everything will be fine until it’s not. Then we can worry.” Instead of responding, Dad just keeps apologizing.