What happened to Eliot Schulter?
By
Eric Sissom
English Composition II
Paper 3
10 October 2006
Outline
Thesis statement: Maria Pierce is wondering why she can not get in contact with her close friend.
What happened to Eliot Schulter?
The story “All Gone” by Stephen Dixon is about a woman who is worried and concerned that she can not get a hold of her friend, Eliot Schulter, on the phone. She attempts to “dial him every half hour . . . for the next three hours and then [I] call [the] Operator and she checks and says his phone’s in working order” (3). Maria Pierce is wondering why she can not get in contact with her close friend. She knows how long it takes him to get home, but she thinks of possible reasons why he’s not home yet. She’s thinking, well, “It’s Saturday and the subway’s always much slower on weekends” (2) or maybe “he could have got home and I missed him because he right away might have gone out to buy some necessary art supply or something” (3).
After failing to get in touch with him on the phone, she finally calls his landlord and expresses her concern. On the phone with the landlord, she says, “’This is Maria Pierce, Eliot Schulter’s good friend for about the last half-year – you know me. Anyway, could you do me a real big favor and knock on his door? . . . he should be home and doesn’t answer and I’ve been phoning and phoning him and am getting worried’” (4). The landlord did not get an answer at his door, which got him worried also. So, he went to get a duplicate key to let himself in the apartment. When Maria called the landlord back, he said he “’opened his door just a ways and yelled in for him and then walked in and he wasn’t there, though his place looked okay’” (5). Maria remembered that Eliot always kept a night light on to keep away burglars, and asked if it was on and the landlord said, “’Yes. I thought he’d forgotten about the light, so I shut it off. I was thinking about his electricity cost, but you think I did wrong?’” (11). Maria responded, “’No. It only means he never got home. Thanks.’” (12).
She continues to call him with no answer. She calls her friend to let her know she would not be able to accept the concert tickets because she can’t get a hold of Eliot. Her friend asks if he has “’any relatives or close friends . . .?’” (14). Maria replied, “’No, he would have gone to his apartment directly . . . He had important work to finish, and the only close person other than myself to him is his mother in Seattle’” (15). Her friend suggests, “’Maybe he did get home but got a very sudden call to drop everything and fly out to her, so he didn’t have the time to phone you, or when he did, your line was busy’” (16). Maria replied, “’No, we’re close enough that he’d know it would worry me. He’d have called from the airport, someplace’” (17).
Her friend suggests calling the police department or his mother. She doesn’t like calling his mother because she doesn’t want to worry her over nothing, “’But the police is a good idea’” (19). While on the phone with the police station in his neighborhood, “The officer who answers says ‘We’ve nothing on a Mr. Schulter. But being that you say he left your apartment this morning, phone your precinct station’” (20). She called her local police department and “the officer on duty says ‘Something did come in today about someone of his name – let me think’” (20). She gets worried. The officer assures her that “’It could be nothing’” (22).
The officer searches for the information that was reported about a possible Mr. Schulter. She is waiting on the phone patiently. The officer returns to the phone and says, “’Now take it easy. It’s very serious. He had no I.D. on him other than this artist society card with only his signature on it, which we were checking into, so we’re grateful you called.’” (27). The officer continues saying, “’According to this elderly witness, he was supposedly thrown on the subway tracks this morning and killed’” (29). After screaming and hanging up the phone, the officer calls her back and says, “’If you could please revive yourself, Miss, we’d like you to come to the police station . . . [and later if you feel up to it] to the morgue to identify your friend’” (30).
She went to the morgue and identified Eliot. She called his mother in Seattle, and Eliot’s uncle comes to town to have the body shipped to Seattle for the funeral. She decides not to go to the funeral because she doesn’t know Eliot’s family, so she has “a small ceremony in the basement of a local church . . . [with several friends and Eliot’s co-workers to] speak about Eliot and read aloud excerpts of his letters . . .”
Eliot was a man who helped others in need. On the day he was killed, he was trying to help a teenage girl who was being harassed by two young men. Eliot struggled with the young men and fell on the subway tracks. The elderly witness tried to get Eliot off the tracks, and prevented a train from running over him. Unfortunately, he was dead when he hit the tracks. At least Eliot didn’t suffer long, and Maria knows the true about what happened to Eliot that morning after he left her apartment.
Dixon, Stephen. “All Gone.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2007. 704.
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Grade: 174/200 | This essay was written by Eric Sissom, autism@ericsissom.com