The urgent need for human contact forces Offred into the past, when she and Luke lay in bed as their unborn child kicked in her mother’s womb. Three unsubstantiated visions of Luke flash onto Offred’s mental screen:
· Luke lying in underbrush, his soft tissue decayed, leaving a skeleton and evidence of bullet holes through the skull. Offred prays that at least one shot ended Luke’s agony in a single, brief spasm.
· Luke captured and held in prison, his hair and beard ragged, his appearance ten years older than she remembers him. His rights denied, he remains imprisoned without formal arraignment and refuses to tell his captors what they want to know.
· Luke swimming across the river into Canada and welcomed by Quakers, who dress him warmly. They smuggle him from house to house until he reaches the U.S. government-in-exile.
