In Chap­ter 129 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” the pro­tag­o­nist, Joseph, wakes up in a cold sweat, haunt­ed by a vision that com­pels him to paint a fig­ure whom he asso­ciates with a north­ern shore. Anx­ious and filled with a sense of urgency, he reach­es for the tele­phone, attempt­ing to gath­er him­self as he awaits the answer­ing machine’s response. When he final­ly hears a famil­iar voice on the oth­er end, he is momen­tar­i­ly par­a­lyzed by shame, reveal­ing the depth of his emo­tion­al tur­moil.

The voice belongs to Nor­ma, some­one he knows inti­mate­ly. Their con­ver­sa­tion unfolds with ten­sion, each aware of the pain beneath the sur­face of their exchange. Nor­ma pleads with him, urg­ing him to sur­ren­der, but Joseph resists, his voice trem­bling as he artic­u­lates his strug­gles. She reas­sures him, call­ing him a “good boy,” but he can hear her own suf­fer­ing echo­ing in her words.

Joseph express­es a deep long­ing for con­nec­tion, reveal­ing his desire for Nor­ma and her grand­daugh­ter, Saint, to be his fam­i­ly. The warmth of nos­tal­gia begins to seep through the con­ver­sa­tion as Nor­ma offers a sim­ple promise: return­ing to her for ice cream at Lacey’s Din­er. This small ges­ture revives mem­o­ries of the past but also sharp­ens the ache of his cur­rent dis­tanc­ing.

He admits to miss­ing both of them, elic­it­ing a poignant moment when Nor­ma acknowl­edges the heart­break expe­ri­enced by her grand­daugh­ter due to Joseph’s absence. Despite his apolo­gies, he finds it hard to address the truth behind her statement—that he has become a source of pain for them. The chap­ter clos­es with a haunt­ing reminder from Nor­ma that it’s time for him to let go, rein­forc­ing that Saint no longer needs him, encap­su­lat­ing the themes of long­ing, regret, and the painful process of mov­ing on.