When I think about the "Odor of Chrysantemus" I remember one strongest picture. There is a young woman standing near the road and looking up this road. She looks forward for her husband, who is supposed to come back from work in coal mine. By her side, there is a child- it is the woman's son.
Elizabeth Bates- because this is the name of that woman- has a sad face. She looks poor. Her clothes are worn out. Her family lives in a small cottage next to the railroad. They have many financial troubles. She is standing by the road, because her husband should have come back from work some time ago. Elizabeth is wondering, where he is. Is he drinking in a bar? Has something bad happened to him in the mine? The dinner is getting cold. It is getting dark...
All of the sudden, there appears a train coming form behind the hill. Betty's father is coming. Unfortunately, he has no idea, where her husband may be. He is worried about the daughter. He knows that her husband may have started drinking again. Elizabeth's father drinks tea and eats a piece of bread by her place.
When it gets completely dark, the woman comes home. Her little daughter keeps asking, where the father is. The kids wants the father to be back. Betty decides to ask the neighbor, who works together with her husband, if he saw him that day. He confirmed that he was at work, but the neighbor left earlier than him.
Going back home, Betty is looking in the direction of the coal mine. Suddenly she can hear the terrible noise. It is an alarm. Something terrible happened. Elizabeth's heart jumps with fear. She runs towards her home thinking of her husband. There is already her mother-in-law waiting for her. The older woman looks terribly sad. She has sad news. She tells Betty to be brave and wait. That is all they ca do.
After several hours, a couple of men from the mine knock on the door. They bring someone on the stretcher. It is Elizabeth's husband- John. She still has some hope that he can be alive. Unfortunately, one of the men tells her that he died and that there is no more they can do for him.
The dead body of the man is dirty with coal. Two women- his wife together with his mother- clean the body. They say nothing. They simply keep cleaning the body, crying quietly.
