PART TWO - THE DESERT

SECTION FOUR (Pages 19-25)

Summary

Jeannette opens this section by explaining that the family was always doing the skedaddle. Dad refers to them as being chased by FBI agents, but Mom explains it's just bill collectors on their tails. They move like nomads, living in dusty little mining towns, the more desolate and isolated a place the better. Dad is able to get a job almost anywhere. Mom says he can talk a blue streak, spinning tales of jobs he never held and degrees he never earned. He can get any job he wants. He just can't hold one for very long. So, he makes extra money doing odd jobs or gambling. Then, when the bills pile up or someone is after them for repayment of gambling debts, they do the skedaddle.

Sometimes the family lives with Grandma Smith, Rose Mary's mother, who lives in a white house in Phoenix. Things go well for awhile until Grandma makes a remark about Dad being shiftless. Then, the curse words begin to fly and off the family goes again.

In some of the towns where they stop and live, there are people who have been there for years, but there are also many who, like the Walls, are just passing through. Sometimes, the kids enroll in school, but not always. Their parents are their teachers. As a result of all the moving, the children have few close friends: they're not in one place long enough to make deeper attachments.

Rex and Rose Mary did teach the kids many things: Mom made sure they could all read by the age of five, and they learned math from Dad; he also taught them how to tap out Morse Code, how to aim and fire his pistol, how to shoot Mom's bows and arrows, and how to throw a knife. Mom thrives in the desert, and she knows how to live on next to nothing. Jeannette loves the desert, too. She loves having feet tough enough to go barefoot all the time; she loves catching scorpions, snakes, and horny toads; she loves searching for gold; and she loves the weird changes in the weather. She says that her family is somewhat like a cactus: they eat irregularly and when they do, they gorge themselves. In fact, whenever any kind of food can be purchased cheaply or gotten free, they eat it until they're sick. For weeks one time, they ate green grapes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Dad tells his children that all the running around is temporary until he finds gold. He is a natural genius who is an expert in math, physics, and electricity. So, to find his gold, Rex is building a complicated contraption he calls the Prospector. However, even though its potential is amazing, Dad just never seems to get it done. Jeannette says, In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a bit of a drinking situation. When he drinks beer, he drives fast, sings loud, and his hair falls in his face. However, when he hits the hard stuff, he turns into an angry-eyed stranger who throws around furniture and threatens to beat Mom up. Fortunately, Dad only drinks when they have money and that isn't very often.

Every night, Dad tells the kids bedtime stories that are always about him. He is very dramatic and of course, exaggerates his own life experiences to impress his children. In all the stories, he fights harder, faster, and gambles smarter than any other character. He rescues those in need and he's stronger and cleverer than anyone else. He also dazzles the kids with tales of what he's going to do. In fact, he regales them with his special project: a great big house he wants to build for them in the desert. It is going to have a glass ceiling, thick glass walls, and even a glass staircase. He calls it the Glass Castle and he even has blueprints he carries with him wherever the family goes. Dad says that all they have to find is gold and they are on the verge of it - if he can just get the Prospector finished.

Notes

This section explains to the reader that, in spite of their shortcomings, Rex and Rose Mary love their children, and even though their lives are eccentric, they really don't fail them completely. They live in fantasy world where Mom can survive in the desert and Dad is a great hero. Unfortunately, they carry their children along with them in this strange life which brings with it baggage the children will carry with them the rest of their lives.