Remarkably Bright Creatures The Pier’s Shadow—Some Trees Summary & Analysis

Summary

The Pier’s Shadow

Cameron meets Avery at her house to go paddleboarding, where he learns that she is thirty-two and has a fifteen-year-old son named Marco. He assures her he doesn’t mind as they drive to the water. Avery teaches him to paddleboard, and as they’re passing the pier she tells him that she once talked a woman down from committing suicide there. They speak about parenting and Cameron tells her about his mother walking out on him. He admires Avery’s tough-love parenting style and feels embarrassed when comparing his life with hers. Just as they’re nearing the shore Cameron falls off his board and moments later pushes Avery off of hers. They kiss in the water before running out to Cameron’s camper.

There was a Girl

Tova can’t stop thinking about what Adam told her: that Erik had been out with a girl the night he died, further ruling out the possibility of suicide. She obsesses over the new information, thinking back on the girls Erik had been involved with, until Jessica Snell calls to tell her that she’s received a massive offer for Tova’s house. She asks Tova if Tova would like to counter the price to take the house off the market, and Tova agrees. Later, she drives to the aquarium to work alongside Cameron. Noticing that Cameron seems out of it, and feeling like she’s losing her mind, Tova decides to focus on helping Cameron befriend Marcellus.

An Unexpected Treasure

Tova shows Cameron how to approach Marcellus so that the octopus will wrap a tentacle around his wrist the way he does to Tova. Cameron is weirded out, but eventually allows Marcellus to touch him. Afterwards Cameron notices a silver earring on the bottom of Marcellus’s cage, and when he mentions it the octopus uses a tentacle to swipe it out of sight. Tova laughs and tells Cameron about the house key that Marcellus once returned to her. The two finish their work, Tova demanding that Cameron do his job right, and he ends up telling her about his mother. Tova praises him for his work, and Cameron is grateful.

Day 1,349 of My Captivity

Marcellus is trying to stay alive long enough to help Tova and Cameron figure out the truth about their relationship, and says he will do anything to help Tova heal from her grief.

Some Trees

Tova packs up her things into “donate” and “keep” piles, to prepare for her move to Charter Village. Feeling lonely, she goes to Shop-Way to talk to Ethan. However, she is shy after their recent talk of having tea together, and instead of talking to Ethan she makes a beeline for the produce section, where she runs into Sandy Hewitt. They talk for a while and at the end of their conversation, Sandy tells her that Adam remembered that the girl Erik was seeing the night he died was named Daphne. Ethan overhears the conversation and Tova rushes home, foregoing dinner to search for—and eventually find—pictures of Daphne Cassmore in Erik’s high school yearbook.

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