PART THREE - WELCH

SECTION TWENTY-FOUR (Pages 226-230)

Summary

Lori's graduation is approaching and she is both excited and terrified of going to New York. She doesn't know what she must do once she arrives. She also needs a scholarship to go to school. However, she messes up the National Merit Scholarship, and Dad ruins the bust of Shakespeare, sculpted by Lori to earn another scholarship, after he once again arrives home drunk. It seems as if both Dad and Lori herself are sabotaging her trip to New York. Unfortunately, Lori doesn't have the spirit to rework the bust. So she and Jeannette come up with a new plan, where Lori will still go to New York and support herself with their savings until she gets a job. Then, she can apply to a school. Everyone is mad at Dad for ruining the bust, and so he has a bad case of the sulks. He keeps saying that he isn't trying to keep Lori from finding her dream. He insists that he's only trying to keep her from getting hurt.

Then, one evening in May, Jeannette discovers that the pig, Oz, is missing. She looks all around her room and finds it, broken in pieces, and the money gone. She knows it can only be blamed on Dad. She goes downstairs to tell Lori, who knows from the look on Jeannette's face that something bad has happened. Lori runs to the bedroom to find Oz. Jeannette braces herself, expecting to hear a scream, but there is only silence and then a small, broken whimpering.

They wait for thee days for Dad to come home in order to confront him about the theft. When he comes in and they demand to know why he did it, he has the gall to grin at Jeannette about it, believing since the whipping, that he still has her as an ally. He pulls out a few wadded dollar bills from his pocket and throws them on the floor for them, an act that is the most insulting of all. Jeannette asks, Why are you doing this to us, Dad? Why? However, all she gets from Dad, before he passes out, is a face tight with anger. Lori keeps repeating, I'll never get out of here, but Jeannette believes she will, because if Lori doesn't get out, neither will Jeannette.

Jeannette goes back to the store to find another pig, but all of the ones she sees can be broken into. So she buys a blue change purse that she hides under her clothes or a hole in the wall below her bunk. Unfortunately, a week before school ends, they only have $37.20.

Then, one of the women for whom Jeannette baby-sits tells her that she and her family are moving back to their hometown in Iowa. She offers Jeannette $200 to be paid at the end of the summer to take care of her toddlers. She also says she'll provide a bus ticket back to Welch. Instead, Jeannette says she should ask Lori to do this job and then buy her a bus ticket to New York. The woman agrees.

On the day Lori leaves, Jeannette eyes the pewter-colored clouds that are the backdrop for most mornings in Welch. They remind her of how isolated and forgotten the town is. The family arrives to pick up Lori. All she has are her clothes, her favorite books, and her art supplies in a single cardboard box. She hugs everyone, but Dad, to whom she has not spoken since he took Oz. Then she climbs into the car and is gone, never looking back. Dad is standing on the porch, smoking a cigarette. He makes only one comment, This family is falling apart.

Notes

The way the family members sabotage the trip to New York is systemic of how they feed off each other. Dad is addicted to alcohol, but his children have been raised to be addicted to their parents. As a result, it takes a tremendous amount of courage for Lori to break free and leave Welch at last. It remains to be seen if she'll accept the bus ticket to New York.

Note that Dad's selfishness is never-ending as evidenced by his theft of the girls' money.

SECTION TWENTY-FIVE (Pages 231-234)

Summary

Jeannette is made news editor of The Maroon Wave. She has been writing for the newspaper since seventh grade, going from proofreader to layout to news reporter. She carries the Minolta Mom had purchased to send pictures of her paintings to Lori everywhere. This job has loosened her up and makes her more social. Now she is accepted, especially because pictures she takes may land in the news. She works on it every day. No more hiding in the bathroom at lunchtime. Now she has the excuse of finishing a deadline as the reason why she has no lunch. Staying late after school also gives her the opportunity to steal food from the dumpsters. She hardly ever goes hungry again.

When she becomes a junior, Miss Bivens makes her the Editor-in-Chief, a position that is only supposed to go to a senior. She ends up writing most of the articles with no byline, because most other students have no interest in the job. She even sells the paper herself and becomes extremely obsessed with increasing the circulation. Most of her schemes don't work, until she puts in a column called Birthday Corner which lists and comments on students who are having a birthday the next month. Because many of the students have never seen their names in print, the circulation doubles. It's not serious journalism, but Jeannette doesn't care - it sells papers.

Chuck Yeager visits Welch that year. Dad had talked about him all Jeannette's life, constantly being reminded by Dad of all of the man's achievements. His greatest accomplishment happened in 1947 when he became the first man to break the sound barrier in his X-1, even though the night before he'd been up drinking and had been thrown from a horse and cracked some ribs. Dad can hardly contain his excitement about Yeager's visit and helps Jeannette write up the questions she wants to ask. He even makes her practice the interview with him playing the part of Yeager. When Jeannette sees Yeager for the first time, she thinks he looks more like a cowboy than a West Virginian. However, in his speech, he emphasizes his West Virginia roots, telling the students they should be proud of where they come from. During the interview, Mr. Yeager answers all Jeannette's questions very seriously and is quite impressed with her knowledge of aviation, thanks to Dad. Afterward all the kids are impressed that she got to speak to him, and her importance swells a little. When she gets home, Dad is so eager to hear all about the interview that he is even sober. He insists on helping her with her article to ensure its technical accuracy. He leans over her shoulder as she writes, ready to juice it up a little.

Notes

Jeannette makes quite a success of herself on the newspaper staff during her junior and senior years. What's most impressive about all she's done on that staff is that she has doubled the circulation. Ironically, the day she interviews Chuck Yeager her father is so excited that he doesn't drink a drop of alcohol until he hears all about it.