All the Colors of the Dark
by Chris Whitaker
Contents
Chapter 129
Overview
After a troubling vision, Patch calls Norma and reveals how ashamed and emotionally stranded he has become. Norma urges him to surrender, reminds him that he once wanted a family with her and Saint, and tells him the cost of his refusal: he is breaking Saint's heart. The chapter marks a painful emotional turning point, pressing Patch toward the idea that he may have to release Saint and face what he has become.
Summary
Patch wakes in a cold sweat after hearing a girl tell him to paint her and say she is standing on a north shore. Shaken by the vision and by his own fear, he reaches for a telephone and makes a call in the dark.
Norma answers instead of a machine, and Patch is briefly too ashamed to speak. When he finally does, Norma immediately urges him to give himself up, but Patch says he cannot. Their exchange reveals how deeply he still cares for her and how much pain his life on the run has caused them both.
Patch confesses that he wanted Norma and Saint to be his family. Norma responds with tenderness, telling him it is not too late and offering the simple comfort of taking him for ice cream at Lacey's Diner if he comes back.
The call turns to Saint. Norma tells Patch that he is breaking Saint's heart, and Patch can only apologize because he knows she is right. Norma ends the emotional conversation by telling Patch he has to let Saint go now, because Saint does not need him anymore.
Who Appears
- Patch (Joseph)Haunted fugitive who calls Norma, admits his longing for family, and struggles to let Saint go.
- NormaPatch's longtime maternal figure; answers his call, urges surrender, and tells him to release Saint.
- SaintAbsent but central figure whose broken heart and independence shape Norma's plea to Patch.