The Time Traveler's Wife

The start of this chapter continues linearly from the previous. It is now 1995. Henry has been disappearing at the Newberry Library where he works and reappearing without clothes. He mentions the interior stairwell of the library, a fenced area between the stairwells called “the cage.” Should he ever appear in the cage, he wouldn’t be able to get out.

When his boss Roberto catches him naked, Henry has no explanation, and says he cannot recall how he ended up without his clothes. When he tells his other coworker, Matt, the truth—that he was in Muncie, Indiana in the year 1973—Matt does not believe him. Later in the chapter, an eight-year-old Henry appears in the present timeline of 1995.

The narrative moves forward to 1996. Henry visits a man named Kenrick, a doctor and genetic scientist. After Kendrick receives him with skepticism, Henry provides him with a list that he insists can’t be read until after the birth of Kenrick’s child; the list has the name of Kendrick’s yet-to-be-born son and that he will have Down syndrome. After Henry’s prophecy comes true, Kendrick calls him and demands an immediate meeting. Kendrick is less skeptical but doesn’t believe Henry fully until he witnesses Henry disappear.

Kendrick and Henry discuss the possibility that Henry’s condition is caused by some unknown genetic mutation. Henry hopes that Kendrick will be able to develop a gene therapy to cure his condition.

The present timeline continues, with Clare discussing her growing desire to have a child. The narrative then shifts to 1966. Henry has traveled back in time and visits his three-year-old self and his mother. Because of his condition, Henry feels that having a child with Clare is likely a bad idea.

It is 1996. Clare is eight weeks present and Henry has time traveled. She experiences pain and severe bleeding while awaiting Henry’s return. Charisse and Gomez rush her to the hospital where she learns that she has had a miscarriage. Henry arrives right before the end of the incident.

The narrative moves forward 10 days. Henry is in Dr. Kenrick’s office being examined and acting as the subject of a sleep study. He recalls his dreams, one where he sees his ex-girlfriend, Ingrid, kill Clare with a bow and arrow shot through a television. As he dreams, Kendrick and his technician Larson realize that Henry is bleeding. Henry wakes up and asks Kendrick if he was able to record the dream, to which Kenrick answers yes.

It is over a year later, October, 1997. Henry wakes up next to Clare and discovers that she is bleeding. She already understands that this is miscarriage number two. The narrative moves ahead to the following February. Henry receives a call from Kendrick and reacts excitedly. Kendrick has figured out the genetic sequences behind Henry’s condition and is planning to recreate it in lab mice.

Clare is at her mother’s bedside as Lucille endures the final stages of terminal cancer. Clare goes through Lucille’s belongings and discovers her mother’s poetry. She is despondent until she finds a poem that Lucille had written for Clare.

Clare and Henry celebrate New Year’s Eve with their friends on a rooftop in Wicker Park. It is 1999 and Y2K doomsayers have predicted havoc as the millennium changes; however, Henry, because he has traveled into the future, knows that it’s all hype.