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Kathy Wade is John Wade’s wife. She works in the University of Minnesota admissions office. She and John met in college, though John is a few years older. Even though she is independent and values privacy, she puts up with John’s spying on her because she loves him. She also puts up with John’s habit of sometimes disappearing for hours at a time. While John is in Vietnam, she dates other men but still stays in touch with John. When John starts writing to her as Sorcerer, she warns him that “Sorcerer” and his tricks might chase her away.

Once John comes home from the war, they get married. The first few years of married life go well. Kathy and John enjoy being spontaneous and passionate. However, after he starts serving in the Minnesota Senate, their marriage suffers. They put off things like taking vacations, buying a house, and even having kids because they spend all their money on John’s campaigns. Kathy also feels like John is shutting her out.

Kathy gets a job to help support John’s career, even though she thinks that John should run his campaigns based on issues and ideals, not just on winning. She sacrifices a great deal for his career. Kathy even has an abortion because, according to John, the timing’s not right, yet all she ever wanted was a baby. Kathy hates being a politician’s wife, and the night that John loses the Senate primary, she feels elated.

At the cottage, Kathy spends time doing crossword puzzles and fantasizing with John about the travels they’ll take and their future babies’ names. She maintains optimism, even when it’s tough, and keeps thinking they could be happy if she and John can just learn to be honest with each other. Kathy has been unhappy for a long time. She even had an affair that lasted for several months, not because she loved the man but because she needed to feel the potential for being happy. However, Kathy ended the affair because she loved John.

On what is meant to be their final day at Lake of the Woods, Kathy mysteriously disappears. No one ever finds out what happened to her.

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