James and Sunny Hoo have moved to a lakefront home and are having the Westing heirs over for the homecoming of Olympic gold medalist Doug Hoo. Crow thanks James for the donation of Foot-Eze innersoles for the mission, the product now doing well across America. He has yet to return to China with his wife. Theo Theodorakis graduated from journalism school and has become a cub reporter, Sunny now speaks English fluently, and Jake Wexler is the chairman of the State Gambling Commission. Denton Deere, now a neurologist but still single, greets Angela Wexler, who's in her third year of medical school. Sydelle Pulaski attends this party with a crutch, as she sprained her knee at the office party. With her is her fiancée, Conrad Schultz.
Chris Theodorakis introduces his friend Shirley Staver to Judge Ford, who knows all about her from their letters. Judge Ford is now a judge on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. Though much improved from the medication, Chris will always remain in a wheelchair. However, he and Shirley are going on a birdwatching tour of Central America that summer.
Grace Wexler caters this party herself, though she now owns a chain
of Hoo's On restaurants. Theo asks Grace about the attractive young woman
talking to Flora Baumbach. Grace says it's her daughter Turtle, only eighteen
but in her second year of college. Now going by the name of T.R. Wexler,
she had earlier that day won her first game of chess against Sam Westing.
The story's sudden jump five years ahead feels odd, but ties in thematically
to the notion that life can take unexpected turns. Thus, we find various
surprises, most notably that Angela Wexler re-unites with Denton Deere
on a more equal footing. The possibility of romance between Angela Wexler
and Theo Theodorakis is no longer considered, but a new wrinkle occurs
when Theo takes an interest in another Wexler, Turtle - now T.R.
Turtle spends the night at the bedside of eighty-five-year-old Julian R. Eastman. With a master's in business administration and an advance degree in corporate law, she has served as legal counsel for the Westing Paper Products Corporation and is a multimillionaire from her stock investments. Sandy is dying, but asks Turtle about the Westing heirs. Judge Ford is now on the United States Supreme Court; Turtle tells Sandy that Crow and Otis are still at the soup kitchen, but they'd died within a week of each other two years ago. Sydelle Pulaski Schultz moved to Hawaii and keeps in touch with Angela. Sandy asks of Angela, revealing that he knew she was the bomber - something Turtle never knew he knew. Angela is now an orthopedic surgeon, married to Denton Deere, and they have a daughter named Alice. Flora Baumbach gave up dressmaking and moved in with Turtle, who like everyone else calls her T.R. now.
Mr. and Mrs. Theodorakis retired to Florida: their son Chris and his wife Shirley are university professors in ornithology and Chris discovered a new subspecies that was named after him. Douglas Hoo won two Olympic golds in a row and is now a sports announcer; Sandy asks about the paper innersoles, which he reminds T.R. he gave James Hoo the idea for. Turtle says they're doing well; she does not mention that James Hoo had died and Sunny Hoo made her trip to China but returned to run the business. As for Sandy's niece, Gracie Windkloppel, she has ten restaurants, nine are successes and she holds onto the tenth one to be near husband Jake, now the state crime commissioner. Sandy then inquires about T.R.'s husband, Theo Theodorakis, whose first novel sold poorly but received great reviews and is finishing up a second book. Sandy asks when they'll have children, and Turtle lies, saying some day; actually, Turtle and Theo decided against children from the possibility of inheriting Chris's disease. Sandy asks if Alice Deere is as beautiful as her mother Angela, but Turtle tells him she doesn't, that Alice looks like Turtle and Sandy. Sandy asks Turtle to tell Crow to pay for him and dies, at sunset on the Fourth of July.
T.R. Wexler had never revealed the secret of Julian R. Eastman to anyone,
including Theo. She had been Eastman's legal advisor, would inherit his
stock and serve as the company's director until she's elected chairman
of the board. After Eastman's funeral, she goes home for her regular Saturday
afternoon meeting with her niece Alice, when they play chess.
The novel jumps forward again, this time twenty years after the events of the Westing game - the obituary during the game stated Westing was 65, and Eastman is 85 on his deathbed. While the heirs have generally continued to prosper, there are several nods to the less ideal side of life. Several heirs have died - Crow, Otis Amber, and James Hoo - though T.R. hides this from Eastman. Eastman's request that Crow pray for him recalls Crow praying for him at the first meeting of the Westing heirs, when she first believed he had died.
T.R. and Theo have decided not to have children, for fear of having children with brother Christos' disease - a ruthless decision in some ways, as Chris is leading a fulfilling life and they have the financial resources to care for such a child. Last, and perhaps most tellingly, Theo is the only heir who hasn't seemed to fulfill his ambitions as well as he could have. This may be attributed to Raskin's own understanding of the difficulty of writing as a profession: while other successes don't break one's suspension of disbelief, a best-selling novelist may be stretching matters too far.
The cycle of life, that one generation passes on its wisdom and wealth to the next generation, is continued in the same way Sam Westing chose his heir: T.R. now has a niece, Alice, with whom she plays chess every Saturday.
Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on A Long Way Gone".
TheBestNotes.com.
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