What I Have Been Doing Lately

What I Have Been Doing Lately Summary | Detailed Summary

"What I Have Been Doing Lately" is part of author Jamaica Kincaid's first work, At the Bottom of the River, a collection of short stories first published in 1983.

This story, like the other works in At the Bottom of the River, is told in the first person. As the story begins, the narrator is lying in bed. In response to a ringing doorbell, the narrator runs downstairs to see who might be calling. Finding no one there, the narrator steps outside to find that it is either drizzling rain or the air is filled with a sort of damp dust; in either case, the narrator describes the taste of the air as being similar to government school ink.

Next, the narrator looks north and south before deciding to walk north. As the narrator walks, we learn the narrator is not wearing shoes.

The narrator then describes the various things seen along the way: the planet Venus, a monkey in a tree that has no leaves, and finally, a large body of water. Although the narrator wishes to cross this body of water, it is not possible because the narrator is unable to swim. The narrator also contemplates building a boat or a bridge but concludes that doing either would take many years.

Despite this, the narrator says years pass before the decision is made to cross the body of water in a rowboat. It is noon when the narrator reaches the other side of the water, and begins along the path that lies straight ahead. Along the way, the narrator sees a house with a dog sitting on the verandah, and a boy tossing a ball into the air. Both the dog and the boy look the other way when they see the narrator approaching.

The narrator continues to walk but cannot say for how long because there is no discomfort or fatigue. At one point, the narrator turns around to look once again at the ground already traveled and is startled to find that rather than the long, straight path that had once existed, there is nothing but hills. Tall flowering trees have replaced the boy throwing his ball. And, rather than the damp, misty air the narrator first encountered upon leaving the house, the sky is cloudless and seems to almost close enough to touch.

Turning back to continue along the path, the narrator encounters a deep, dark hole in the ground ahead. The narrator is not able to see very far into the hole and wonders what lies at its bottom. In order to get a better look, the narrator decided to jump into the hole. During the descent, the narrator sees words written on the sides of the hole, but because they appear to be written in a foreign language, is unable to read them.

The narrator continues to fall toward the bottom of the hole, but as the descent continues, an ill feeling develops as well as a longing for the people who remain at the hole's surface. The narrator is able to reverse direction and return to the surface. Once safely to the top, the narrator commands the hole to close.

The narrator continues the journey. There is no mention of how much time pass passed, only the alternating of days and nights, rain and shine, light and darkness. The narrator remarks that neither pain nor thirst occur during the journey's duration.

The narrator looks to the horizon and makes a small joke before seeing a lone figure in the distance. The narrator initially believes the figure on the horizon is the narrator's mother, but soon realizes this is not the case. Nonetheless, the narrator is not frightened because the figure appears to be someone familiar.

The reader can assume that the figure, a woman, apparently knows the narrator, because she says, "It's you. And just what have you been doing lately?"

The narrator considers a few possible answers - most of them non-sensical, and even sarcastic - before reviewing the events that have already unfolded. We read again, how the narrator is roused from bed to answer the ring of the doorbell only to find that no one is at the door. We read about the air that is damp with either drizzle or dust and how the narrator begins walking north. As before, the narrator describes observing the planet Venus in the sky, and seeing a monkey sitting in a leave-less tree.

This time, however, there is a description of how the narrator threw four stones at the monkey and how the monkey moved out of the way of the first three stones before catching and throwing the fourth stone back to the narrator, causing a deep gash on the narrator's forehead that immediately healed.

The narrator next describes walking a long distance before encountering the large body of water, but this time, rather than waiting for years to finally row across, the narrator pays a fare to ride on a boat across the water.

Once on the other side, the narrator observes people having a picnic on the beach. The narrator describes these people as beautiful with black and shiny skin, shoes, hair and clothes, and who appear to be chatting and laughing. The narrator wants to be with these people and begins walking toward them, however, as the narrator draws closer, the laughter and chatting die out and the people on the beach transform from black and shiny to appearing as though they are made of black mud. The narrator looks at the sky that had earlier seemed to be within reach only to find that it had moved farther away.

Troubled by all that has gone on, the narrator decides to walk away. The narrator describes the walk as long and painful. Longing for comfort, the narrator speaks of going home, finding a freshly made bed and loved ones in the kitchen and of being in church hearing psalms being sung. Overwhelmingly saddened by these thoughts of home, the narrator decides to sit and rest before going back to bed, just as before, before the doorbell rang.