The Sweet Hereafter

Ansel begins his chapter by asserting that, despite being the closest person to the accident, and despite knowing the roads, the bus, and Dolores’ driving habits, he “never saw it coming” (39). At the time of the accident, Ansel was waving to his two children in the back of the bus, but was actually thinking about the body of Risa Walker, with whom he is having an affair.  Risa Walker and Ansel regularly meet in Room 11 of the Bide-a-Wile Motel, which Risa Walker operates with her husband, Wendell. Ansel feels guilty about the affair, but says that Risa and Wendell’s marriage is already “dead” (57). Risa Walker and Ansel used to say “I love you” to each other, but Ansel says they were just lying to each other, and they stop saying this to each other after the accident.

Ansel describes their affair as “lonely” and “solitary” (40). Sometimes, Risa doesn’t come to meet Ansel in Room 11, in which case he goes home. Other times, she meets him and they have sex in the dark. It is “melancholy and sweet and reflective” and “straightforwardly sexual” (41). The sex allows each of them to escape their own lives.