American Rust: A Novel

As Isaac and Poe approach the machine shop, they see Chief Harris’s SUV. Poe seems completely at ease, and Isaac fears his friend will let all the blame fall to him. They approach the vehicle. Harris dismisses Ho and addresses the young men. He asks if they come here often; they say no. He asks if they’re up to trouble; they say no. He says he’ll give them a ride home, and Isaac and Poe climb into the SUV. Harris tells them to stay away from that area, and as they drive back toward Buell, Isaac still fears he will get in trouble. He can see his future: first-degree murder conviction and possible death sentence. Harris pulls up at a bar and gives them the option to call for a ride or let him drive them home. Poe opts to call. When Harris asks about the cut on his neck, Poe is evasive. Before he leaves them, Harris insists they don’t walk home but get a ride. He doesn’t want them out on the streets. Inside the bar, Isaac calls his sister, Lee, for a ride.

While they wait, Isaac tells Poe that Harris has probably discovered his jacket, but Poe dismisses the idea as paranoid. When Lee arrives, Isaac wants to leave. However, Poe wants to reconnect with Lee, whom he dated in high school, so he suggests they get a drink. Lee questions her brother, but he doesn’t tell her anything.

Poe walks with Lee, confident that Harris has “taken care of things” (66); he believes that Harris is too apathetic to really care about the dead body at the shop and that the police will probably drop any investigation. A sullen Isaac walks behind, but Poe ignores his friend, overcome with desire for Lee. They find a bar—inside, a wedding reception is taking place. The sight of the new bride reminds Poe that Lee is a new bride herself, and he has second thoughts about trying to seduce her. Lee gets a couple of beers and dances with some locals while Poe looks on. When she returns to Poe and Isaac, one of her dance partners, a marine, pursues her, nearly leading to an altercation with Poe. When the marine stumbles, Poe notices his prosthetic leg and realizes he might have injured the young man.

Outside the bar, Poe sees his life for what it is: His “mistakes are piling up” (70). They drive home, and Lee invites Poe to stay for a drink. He knows he shouldn’t, but he can’t refuse. They sit on the porch, drinking wine and discussing their past. She apologizes for not telling him about her marriage but argues that her husband’s financial resources will enable her to care for her ailing father. The marriage, however, is not a happy one, and soon, she and Poe are making love. In the aftermath, his emotions are conflicted. He decides to leave, choosing to remember Lee this way—the way it used to be. As he walks away, he notices movement in Isaac’s bedroom window.

Although she regrets leaving town and abandoning Isaac, Lee realizes that she found herself—her identity, her peer relationships—at Yale. Her husband Simon’s family has agreed to pay for a visiting nurse, and once she hires one, Isaac will be free to find his own life. Examining her marriage, she focuses on Simon’s faults—his entitlement, his philandering—to rationalize sleeping with Poe. She’s also conflicted about marrying into a rich family. She doesn’t want to rest on her laurels; she intends to go to law school and maybe practice some kind of social justice law. She considers selling the house—they will have to, eventually—but in the current economy, it wouldn’t sell for much.

Her thoughts ricochet between Simon and Poe. Her memory hints at some trauma in Simon’s past—a car accident on an icy road—and she wants to cut him some slack, but her thoughts keep returning to Poe, even though she knows she would never be happy with him.

From his open window, Isaac hears Poe and his sister making love. The sound triggers a series of memories: his father leaving his dusty work clothes on the porch, the last time he saw his mother alive. He feels petty for wanting to deny Lee and Poe their happiness; he wonders if he’s “turned out the worst of all of them” (83). He suddenly has a panic attack thinking about the dead Swede. He thinks about his sister’s life in Connecticut and resolves to reclaim his own but to do it smarter than he’s been: “You are not playing by the same rules as last week, even. No more stupid mistakes” (84). He dresses, preparing to fetch his backpack from where he left it buried near the crime scene. He realizes what’s been keeping him here—his father’s guilt trips, certainly, but his own insecurities as well. As he puts on his boots in the living room, Lee wakes up. She tries to explain what happened with Poe, but Isaac walks out the door.