Tom Beneck's Priorities In Life After A Wasted Life

“Contents of a dead man’s pockets,... a wasted life.” Tom Benecke’s priorities in life completely change after a near-death experience. Near the beginning of the piece, Tom has a “hot-guilty conscience,” from leaving his wife to go see the movie alone, so he opens the window. Unfortunately, this choice nearly cost him his life. In the beginning of the story, Tom lost his yellow sheet of paper when Clare, his wife, closed the front door after Tom refused to go to the theatre with her. As soon as this happens and Tom finds out that it is wedged out on a decorative ledge, he fatuously decides to go out and fetch his wayward paper.
As Tom inched across the ledge to his paper, “He simply did not permit himself to look down, though the compulsion to do so never left him…,” which was a nearly-fatal choice because it enervated and nearly caused him to fall when he saw the deleterious Lexington Avenue between his feet. “Without pause he continued-- right foot, left foot, right foot, left--...,” He slid across the ledge, but when he peeked between his feet while fetching the paper, he suddenly lost balance and felt that he could not go any further. …show more content…
As soon as he finds the window, Tom accidentally closes the window. “The impossible remoteness of this utter safety, the contrast between it and where he now stood, was more that he could bear.” After popping out for what he thought would just be a minute and accidentally closing the window, he fantasizes about the utter safety of the apartment, so he tries striking the window, which nearly knocked him off the ledge, into what was similar to a kowtow, “His arm rebounded from the windowpane, his body tottering, and he knew he didn’t dare strike a harder blow.” As he checks his watch, Tom realizes an incontrovertible truth: he can’t wait for Clare, “He couldn’t possibly wait here till Clare came