One Four Two Five Old Sunset Trail
October 23, 2025 at 06:30PMWhen actor Gene Hackman and his wife were found dead, the world couldn’t look away. What happened to them was uniquely awful. Novelist Joy Williams meditates on what made it so:
Sixty thousand people—more or less—die in this country every week. The number of beloved pets who die of age or illness is unknown but might be less than the eleven thousand dogs and cats euthanized in shelters weekly. You’d think all we’d be doing is weeping and grieving, though we seem to take it all pretty much in stride. Every once in a while, however, news of Death’s particular methods and attention to detail seizes our attention like the cougar does the clueless rabbit, and we suffer some serious confusion and fright.
In February, Death descended on 1425 Old Sunset Trail in the community of Santa Fe Summit in the city of Santa Fe and it stayed and stayed. It stayed even after—for most intents and purposes—it had left. What is the period called when death has occurred but no one living has witnessed it, has been informed? What is the word, the phrase, the name for those minutes, hours, days? Maybe there isn’t one. There should be. For this is sacred time, time out of time, without ballast or anchor, without leash or link. Incommensurable time.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/10/23/one-four-two-five-old-sunset-trail/
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