Miracle Creek

Shannon brings all of Pak’s testimony into question. For example, Pak had testified that he quit smoking before moving to Miracle Creek, and when Shannon asks about buying cigarettes at the 7-11, Pak responds that he does not even know where a 7-11 is located. However, Shannon provides proof that his ATM card had been used at the 7-11. Furthermore, Pak admits his favorite brand of cigarettes, before he supposedly quit smoking, were Camels, the same brand that were found at the scene and that had been used to start the fire.

Most damning, however, are the revelations about Pak’s behavior on the day of the explosion. Pak admits to having gone out to buy baby powder used “on [the] oxygen helmet seal” to keep it dry (173). Young knows he is lying because “he’d grabbed cornstarch from the kitchen as an alternative to powder” (173). Pak claims to have gone to Walgreen’s but cannot explain why he then went to an ATM several miles away, considering the ATM in Walgreen’s is one he has used “regularly, based on [his] bank statement” (174). Young is horrified to realize that the picture Shannon had shown the jury in support of her questions, depicting the ATM Pak used the day of the explosion, was right next to Party Central, which sold the very same balloons that had caused the power outage that day. Furthermore, Young knows, “Pak knew Mylar balloons could short power circuits. Probably every Korean parent did. Household items causing electrical accidents were popular science-fair entries in Korea—a boy had won Mary’s fifth-grade competition with an exhibit featuring Mylar balloons […]” (180).

However, when Shannon reveals that Pak had been fired from his job as an HBOT technician in Korea “for incompetence” (177), a fact that the protestors were planning to reveal, Young realizes her husband has lied to her, not just about the events of that day, but also about the events that happened in the four years they were apart. Young leaves the courtroom in a daze, thinking Pak, how he’s always felt that Young and her family looked down on him, how she’s done her best to counteract that belief.

Young decides not to go back to court, where “there would be no answers […]. Only more lies, leading to more questions” (180). Instead, she returns home to search for answers in the storage shed, where she finds Pak’s stash of cigarettes and a pamphlet in Korean, titled “Requirements for Reentry to South Korea” and a note from a realtor, which reads “How exciting that you’re moving back. […]. Enclosed are some listings meeting your requirements” (184). The date on the note is August 8, 2019; Young realizes, “[e]xactly a week before the explosion, Pak had been planning to move them back to Korea” (184).

Teresa watches as Detective Morgan Heights prepares to testify, and remembers the first time she saw Morgan, the day after the explosion in the hospital cafeteria. Morgan had been talking to another person, commenting that “God sure has a strange sense of humor” because “the kid who’s pretty much normal is the one who ends up dead, while the autistic kid’s injured but lives, and the kid with severe brain damage is totally fine” (185). The kid “with severe brain damage” is Teresa’s daughter, Rosa.

Teresa also remembers the times that Elizabeth and Kitt had fought over whose life was more difficult. Elizabeth complained that “Henry can’t sustain eye contact, can’t read faces, doesn’t have enough friends” while Kitt was dealing with TJ’s latest behavior, “fecal smearing” (186). Teresa understands, however, the desire for connection. After the explosion, she visited Mary in the hospital every week while she was in a coma. Teresa understood what Young was experiencing, and when Mary woke up with her faculties fully intact, Teresa was outwardly glad but inwardly seething with “envy and fury and hatred” (189) knowing how wrong it was the whole time.

Morgan testifies that the day before the explosion she had visited Elizabeth’s home to investigate reports that Elizabeth was abusing Henry, suggesting Elizabeth had Munchausen by proxy, a “psychological disorder […]. It involves a caretaker exaggerating, fabricating, or even causing medical symptoms in a child to get attention” (191). The anonymous caller, later revealed to be Ruth Weiss also alleged outright abusive behavior on Elizabeth’s part. The day of the explosion, Kitt called Morgan and asked the detective to tell Elizabeth who had made the report, because Elizabeth believed Kitt was the anonymous caller, and Elizabeth was “so mad” Kitt reported, “she’s ready to kill me” (192).