Typical American

Helen and Theresa spend more time together and talk about Ralph. Grover the puppy is signed up for advanced obedience classes. Henry calls and invites Ralph back to work, but Ralph refuses. Helen feels as though the specter of Grover still looms between her and Ralph. She decides that she must tell him the truth about what happened. Ralph almost seems to know anyway but has never said anything. However, she cannot bring herself to the say the words.

Helen searches for a job, filling out application after application. The stores all seem to favor white applicants who do not have accents. She convinces Theresa to ask Henry to call Ralph and pretend as though teaching two courses over the summer would be a personal favor, but Ralph sees Helen’s scheme to get him back to work. He refuses. Helen and Ralph argue about their dwindling finances. Ralph throws a vase through a window.

Ralph covers the shattered window with a piece of plywood. He refuses to pay for the repairs and insists that the house belongs to Helen. Days later, he places a “for sale” sign on the front lawn. They try to save money where they can. The roof leaks, and Ralph hires an old man for as little as possible. The man falls through the roof and breaks “his uninsured ankle” (169). The ensuring fight between Ralph and Helen breaks them both.

The argument becomes so heated that Helen flies through a bedroom window, but they struggle to remember how the fall happened. The argument took place all through the house, and Helen told Ralph that she has thought about leaving him, that she regretted marrying him; she also accused him of being a failure. He pushed her to the ground, she threw a hairbrush at him, he placed his hands around her throat, and then he realized what he was doing. Ralph had pushed Helen away, “out of his murderous hands” (170), and she had tumbled backward through the bedroom window.

Helen miraculously emerges without any broken bones, only cuts, bruises, and a severe concussion. She cannot look for work and now has hospital bills to worry about. Ralph can only apologize. He calls Henry and accepts the position. The “for sale” sign comes down and Henry mends the house as best he can.

Theresa moves back into the family home and views her decision as “her duty” (171). Her suitcases are fuller this time, and she worries how her cats will like their new home. She is welcomed into the house and is taken aback by Ralph’s change in attitude. Mona and Callie are delighted to see their aunt. Grover growls at the cats.

Ralph requests that the cats be renamed. The girls are allowed to rename the cats so they become Barbie and Ken. Ralph also requests that the cats be kept in Theresa’s room. This is less easy to implement. The cats and the dog fight, so Ralph builds Grover a dog house outside and allows him the run of the yard. Theresa’s salary helps, but the family still struggles economically. Theresa reveals that she is still dating Henry Chao and that he has talked of marriage. Theresa refused Henry’s offer as he is still married to Janis. Henry visits often and seems to have an arrangement with Janis. He appears more relaxed.

Ralph shuts himself in his bedroom when Henry Chao visits, trying to block out the sound of laughter. Henry’s presence makes Ralph feel as though he has “no pride and no dignity” (174), and he dreads returning to work at the college. The smell of cooking nearly tempts him out of his room, and he hears Helen announcing some kind of good news regarding her work. He stays upstairs.

Ralph takes to walking Grover whenever Henry visits. He envies Henry’s success and resents that the house seems more like Theresa’s home rather than his own. He trains Grover to growl on command and then teaches the dog the cats’ scent. He waits for the cats to leave the house in hope that Grover will attack them, but the moment never comes. Then he finds out that the human Grover bought the forested land behind the house. Ralph is caught between the home that no longer feels like his own and Grover’s latest real estate deal. Ralph walks around the plot before construction begins and thinks about what he would say to Grover. One day while walking the dog, he spots Grover and Chuck hiking across their land. They approach one another. Grover squints at Ralph and Chuck makes a remark about Ralph’s wife. Grover grins and is struck by recognition.

Ralph forcibly marches Helen to the car and tells her that he is taking her for a drive. He drives manically through red lights and stop signs. The car reaches the top of a hill and Ralph slows down and stops. His eyes glitter feverishly and he demands that Helen tell him everything that happened between her and Grover. He threatens to drive into a tree if she does not tell him. The car rolls down the hill and Ralph refuses to apply the brakes. They pick up speed. Helen panics. Ralph shouts at her as she crawls into a ball in the footwell.

Theresa is surprised that Ralph and Helen have left Mona and Callie alone. She eats supper with the girls and they watch television together with the cats on their laps. Theresa eventually calls the police. The police have no information, so Theresa puts the girls to bed. She walks into the garden to feed the dog and notices the pleasantness of the evening. The idea of how she came to be in this place perplexes her as she fills up the dog’s bowl. She wonders whether she is in love with Henry. Grover growls as she tries to scoop food from the can. The dog strains against his leash as Theresa wonders again what happened to Ralph and Helen. Grover strains again, and the whole dog house is freed from its moorings. Theresa throws the can at the dog as he charges toward her, dragging the dog house along. She runs for the garage as the dog house disintegrates. The car pulls into the driveway with Ralph and Helen inside. Theresa dashes in front of the car’s headlights and tries to point at the dog.

Theresa “is the only person not screaming” (181). Helen and the girls scream, and Ralph worries that he might have killed his sister. Blood is everywhere. He bundles Theresa into the car and drives as quickly as he can to the hospital. The nurses lift Theresa onto a gurney and rush her inside. Ralph tries to chase them through the hospital but becomes lost. He finds the lounge and takes a seat. His clothes are still covered in blood. He recalls the sight of Theresa in his headlights with Helen’s confession having just “set his mind to riot” (181). He remembers trying to stop the car, but the sound of Theresa’s body hitting the bumper haunts him.

Theresa clings to life in a coma. Weeks turn to months but she does not wake up. The doctors are not hopeful about her chances. Mona, Callie, Helen, and Henry Chao sit in vigil. Ralph sits alone. Henry is divorcing Janis. Ralph tries to pray for his sister with a rosary and appeals to the spirits of their ancestors. He begins to see himself as an “evil-hearted human” (183). He thinks of all the ways he might atone. He and Helen care for Theresa. They cut her nails and her hair and listen to her breathe. Helen struggles to look at her husband. They slowly come to terms with the idea that Theresa might not wake up.

Bills from the hospital, a lawsuit from the uninsured roofer, and Grover’s threat to foreclose on the restaurant hangs over the family. They try to sell the house and accept an offer from a couple with no children. Janis helps them find an apartment. Helen thinks about the possibility of having the sons she and Ralph had always talked about, but the married couple is estranged. They are endlessly polite with one another but emotionally distant. Ralph develops a stomach illness and loses weight.

Mona and Callie take on more household responsibilities. They pack up Theresa’s room, they cook, they clean, they do what they can to help despite their youth. Janis arranges for the movers to transport everything from the house to the apartment. The only good news comes when Theresa begins “to groan with a certain intermittent regularity” (186). The family is delighted with the progress even though it is small. Mona and Callie decide to share a bedroom in the new apartment to prepare for Theresa’s arrival, but then Theresa stops making the sound. Her progress is followed by a setback and the pattern repeats over and over.

Ralph is watching television when Helen calls from the hospital. Theresa blinked, Helen says, and then woke up and called for Callie and Mona.

Ralph hears Helen tells him that Theresa asked for him and says he will be “right there” (188). He is immediately filled with dread and delight at the thought of seeing his sister. Memories of their childhood fill his thoughts. Ralph needs to take a cab to the hospital. The heavy snow in the streets has turned to ice. No cabs will stop. His thoughts fill with an image of Theresa and Henry Chao floating in wading pools on inflatable rafts on a hot summer day.