The Fifth SeasonSixty-year-old Teddy Neel, an able professor, is son to Able and Lillian Neel, who are living and dying in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The rift between father and son has been wide at times. Now Able, a captain of industry in his prime, is losing a kidney to cancer, while Lillian, who is largely blind, is in the midstages of Alzheimer's, a matter cloaked by her husband's protective ruses. As Teddy visits them, their lives and true characters -- and his own -- are revealed in the stark minutiae of the every day. In on-rushing and meticulous present tense, Downs let us witness the love and beauty, the pain and frustration, of the day-to-day needs in The Fifth Season. |
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Common terms and phrases
Able and Lillian Able asks Able looks Able says Able tells adds answer ask Able balcony bathroom bedroom Benny says Benny's bocce building carhops chair Charity close club damn dinner door Elaine elevator emery boards everything face Fair Oaks feel finally fingers floor Fort Lauderdale front frozen dinners Gandhi glance go back goes gone hand hangs happened hear holding hour kitchen leans leave lian light Lillian comes Lillian says living maître d Mayflower McDonald's Medicare minutes Miss Golly morning morphine mother move Neel never nice night nurse ocean okay pause Publix purse realize Ritz crackers Salisbury steak Schermers shakes his head shoulder side sleep slowly smiles someone stares steps Stouffer's straight suddenly talk television tell Able tell Lillian thing told turns voice walk watch what's who's window