Unlikely Animals

Ingrid continues to be devastated by Ralph Kelsey’s death. The rest of the family share her sadness but cannot help thinking he would have been amused at the manner of his passing.

The Starlings move into a motel, with Ingrid and Clive in separate rooms and Emma and Auggie sharing another. Auggie questions the wisdom of indulging their father’s obsession, criticizes his sister for not contacting him when he was in a rehabilitation facility, and chastises her for not calling Crystal after her father died. Emma asks him about the meaning of “G.G.,” his nickname for her. She has always interpreted it as “Golden Girl” but he tells her it means “Giant Grouper”—a big fish in a small pond.

Percy Eaklin, the CEO of the gun factory and bereaved father of Isabella Eaklin, gives a clumsy eulogy at Ralph’s funeral. At the reception, Mack Durkee asks Emma out to dinner. She is delighted, but they are interrupted by the sound of Ingrid yelling at Clive and the delivery man who has just delivered the Russian fox. Ingrid announces that she is going to live with Dr. Gary Wheeler. Auggie and Emma will live with their father in the hunting cabin. Ralph’s ghost arrives at the graveyard, still laughing.

Ralph’s ghost finishes laughing and begins kissing his dead wife. He asks about the “meddling” rule, reasoning that no one knows what happens to the spirit after it explodes and suggesting that it might go to a better place. His ancestor, Absalom Kelsey, counters that there might be eternal nothingness. Since eternal nothingness was exactly what the atheist Ralph was expecting to find after death, he considers that it might be worth risking in order to help his family.

Emma, Auggie, and Clive move into the hunting cabin with Moses and the fox, Rasputin. Moses is afraid of Rasputin. Clive and Auggie buy the fox toys, which convinces him they are training him to hunt and kill small birds.

The sparrow disappeared from the shoe box in Michael’s cubby, and the children are convinced that Emma’s powers have been restored; Emma thinks it more likely that a mouse took the dead bird. The children did not tell her about the bird for fear that she would leave them to go back to medical school. Emma invites the children to ask any questions they have about the Wish trial. The conversation extends to the opioid crisis in general, and she tells them about Auggie and Crystal. She presents her brother as an inspirational survivor and gifted musician, leaving Leanne determined to recruit him as the director for the community theater production of Titanic!: The Musical. Leanne relays her grandfather’s theory that Crystal has been murdered, arguing that Crystal’s addiction meant that she was invisible. This discussion of her friend reduces Emma to tears, and she is forced to leave the classroom.

Emma wonders if her gift really has returned and makes an unsuccessful attempt to heal her father. She learns that her words in class have led to her brother being called on both to direct the musical and to give a speech at an anti-drug youth banquet being held by Percy Eaklin.

Clive wakes, and it takes him a while to remember where he is and why he is there. He is not unhappy about Ingrid’s absence because he does not remember that she has left him. At Gary Wheeler’s house, Ingrid misses Clive.

Clive asks Harold whether this is to be the day he dies. Harold responds that it is unlikely and reminds him that the fox requires attention. As they play with the fox, Clive does not remember where it comes from and wonders if he trapped it in the park. Harold seems keen to lure Clive into the park, but Clive is reluctant, as he sees the woods as a metaphor for his own death. They see a psychic medium on television, and Clive is eager to enlist her services to look for Crystal.

Auggie is now working all day on the Titanic production, so Clive is left alone with the dog and the fox. A new boy, who calls himself Rat, joins Emma’s class. She is amused that Leanne Hatfield appears to have a crush on him. The class reminds her that she promised to let them watch the televised Wish trial in January.

Emma and Mack meet for a date at the pub, where they see Percy Eaklin. Emma is tempted to approach him and offer words of sympathy about his daughter, but he leaves before she gets up the courage. The ghosts provide enthusiastic commentary as Emma and Mack kiss in the back of his truck.

At home, Emma finds her father outside feeding the birds, naked from the waist down. She tries to hide her sadness and anxiety from him, recalling the vet’s advice when her dog was dying of cancer.

As Emma’s winter break starts, Clive cannot believe that his wife would miss Christmas. Emma takes him out to hang up missing posters.

Leanne has argued with the boy playing the captain of the Titanic. Emma proposes her father as a replacement. He agrees when he learns the play will finish in February, revealing that he doubts he will be alive in the spring, which leaves Emma wracked with “anticipatory grief” (205).