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While Holly’s brother Fred never makes a direct appearance in the novella, his absence due to being deployed in World War II haunts Holly throughout. She remarks on Fred’s kindness when she first meets the narrator and mentions that he reminds her of Fred, saying, “We used to sleep four in a bed, and he was the only one who ever let me hug him on a cold night.” Fred “didn’t care about anything in this world but horses and peanut butter. But he wasn’t dotty, just sweet and vague and terribly slow….” Holly’s love of horses connects her to Fred. In a moment of vulnerability, Holly admits to dreaming of moving to Mexico and buying a place by the sea to raise horses with Fred. Fred exists less as a fleshed-out character than as a symbol of Holly’s dream of a home and comfort. Fred’s death serves as a reminder of the war raging on in the distance and dashes Holly’s dream of home and comfort with a person who cares for her selflessly.

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