The Life We Bury

Lila is in shock when she reads Joe’s assignment. Virgil confirmed the story and “said Carl was never the same after that day” (147). The fact that Carl wouldn’t rape under those circumstances—when ordered to by his army superior and with a revolver held to this head—suggests he would not rape Crystal either. Lila, who has been more reluctant to admit that Carl might be innocent, finally admits that perhaps someone else killed Crystal. The other options are Douglas the stepfather, Daniel the stepbrother, or the boyfriend, Andy. They decide to talk to Andy. Joe finally gets the courage to ask Lila out. She agrees and says that he can take her to see a play, The Glass Menagerie. 

Lila and Joe speak with Andy, who works in an insurance agency in Golden Valley, Minnesota. He reveals that he still has nightmares about Crystal. Andy provides insights into Crystal’s family life. Douglas, although he was a religious nut, was far from angelic—for example, he got caught visiting a strip club by Danielle. He was emotionally abusive, using Bible verses to belittle Crystal. She hated him. Daniel was also unlikeable, for example always showing off new cars he’d get to drive from his dad’s car lot.

Andy says the prosecutor misinterpreted Crystal’s diary and the reason she was upset. One night, Andy and Crystal took one of the cars from Douglas’ lot for a joyride, crashing it into a police car. They fled the scene. Crystal lost one of her glasses’ lenses in the incident, however. She and Andy were planning to replace the lens so that nobody would notice, so she hid the broken glasses. Then suddenly they were gone. She called Andy on September 21, worried that somebody had found the glasses and knew they were behind the hit-and-run. After that “she got weird and distant” and avoided Andy (158). He didn’t know about the sexual abuse until the trial. It was only when he heard the closing arguments of the case that he realized the prosecution had misinterpreted what Crystal was so upset about in her diary. Not wanting to jeopardize his own future by admitting to the hit-and-run, he never said a word.

Joe and Lila go to see The Glass Menagerie. The Tennessee Williams play tells the story of a man, his mentally ill mother, and his mentally fragile sister. The play's difficult family dynamics affect Joe: "I felt a trickle of sweat bead on my chest as visions of my own screwed-up little family moved on that stage" (162). He cries when one actor speaks this line while looking right at him: "Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be" (163). 

Lila and Joe go to bar after the play and he tells her about the last time he saw Jeremy—the signs of physical abuse he witnessed and the guilt he feels having left him there. Lila reveals offhand that she doesn’t drink and that she took a year off before going to college. A young man Joe doesn’t know comes up and calls Lila “Nasty Nash” and makes obscene sexual gestures. The “slob” tells Joe: “I don’t mind sharing, just ask her” (167). Lila gets up and runs from the bar. Joe uses his bouncer expertise to punch the man in the gut so hard that he ends up vomiting. Joe runs out of the bar, looking for Lila, with one of the slob’s angry buddy’s in pursuit.