A Complicated Kindness

Travis finds Nomi on the side of the road after a bicycle crash that she blames on a faulty chain. This is a common occurrence for her; he offers several solutions to the problem that she rejects while they undress. He bugs her about getting on birth control again. Their naked conversation is interrupted by approaching farm equipment, so she hides in a rolled-up carpet, and they drive over to the Golden Comb’s place. When Nomi asks Travis if he wants to split the cost of a Pink Floyd record, he asks what would happen to it if they broke up, which bothers her.

The two of them trade the rolled-up carpet for pot. As Eldon and Travis take it inside, the Golden Comb kisses Nomi without her permission and then says that there’s nothing she can do about it.

The next morning, the neighbor girl wants to play charades with Nomi; then, on the way to school, she sees some young teens throwing rocks at the workmen who were building an abattoir. One of the workmen retaliates, hitting a kid named Doft. Nomi comforts him; he is a missionary returned from Paraguay, like many in the town.

Nomi gets in trouble in typing class and is then approached by the guidance counselor. The counselor asks about her future, and Nomi makes jokes in response; the guidance counselor then asks what’s going on with her English assignments, as Mr. Quiring has complained. Nomi gives a noncommittal answer.

While headed to her doctor’s appointment for birth control, she buys a plastic bird that dips its beak in water for Ray. The doctor who prescribes Nomi her birth control isn’t Mennonite and has a poor reputation in East Village for doing his job. Nomi realizes that her desire to live in New York is seen from the outside as a joke, that her role as a Mennonite who wants something more is “a funny premise for a movie, that’s all” (135).

Nomi goes to the hospital to catch up with Lydia. They talk about her getting on birth control and reminisce about their childhood. Nomi asks if she can wash Lydia’s hair for her, which she does despite some reluctance from Lydia, and then Lydia goes to sleep.

Back home, Ray asks Nomi if she’d help him buy a new suit. They go to the store together, where Nomi runs into her geography teacher, whom she hates. The teacher asks her opinion on an ugly suit despite referring to her as a lunatic and shoving her when she wouldn’t stand at attention during the national anthem. The store owner convinces Ray he needs new socks, which Nomi knows he will never wear.

On the way home, Ray asks her if she minds his eccentricity, admitting that he doesn’t think of himself as much of a father. She protests, and at home, she gives him the dipping bird she bought for him, which he loves.

Tash left town right after Nomi’s 13th birthday. Before her leaving, Nomi suspected Tash of dealing drugs. Trudie would be at the library often (though unstated, it’s likely that she was actually with Mr. Quiring). One night, Nomi confronts Tash, saying that she’s going to hell, which Tash laughs off but is hurt by. The next morning, Nomi overhears Trudie and Tash talking: Tash hates the town and their religion, and to Nomi’s surprise, Trudie acknowledges Tash’s feelings, which Nomi still filters through her own morally-rigid Mennonite lens.

Ray comes home, and Trudie goes to talk to him while Nomi talks to Tash. Tash tells her everything will be alright. Nomi once again tells her she’s afraid Tash will go to hell, and Tash tells her that “hell [is] a metaphor” (147). Nomi is even more convinced of Tash’s damnation. Ian comes to get her, then, with Trudie’s blessing, and that’s the last time she is seen.

In the present, Nomi takes her first birth control pill. She thinks about what it would be like to have a baby growing inside of her, then checks on Ray while he’s sleeping since he’s a loud snorer who needs an adenoid operation.

Well after midnight, she and Travis are floating in inner tubes at the pits, and he asks her what it’s like to go crazy. She doesn’t want to talk about this. When she starts singing along to “Delta Dawn,” he tells her the song reminds him of her, and instead of being offended—which Travis finds boring—she laughs and starts splashing him.

In the early morning, Nomi goes to the Trampoline House, a small business run by a Mennonite family. She jumps, thinking of her problems until the family gives her the signal to leave. She goes home and does her English homework, which is intensely criticized by Mr. Quiring the next day. When she mocks his disappointment in her, he throws her out of class, so she leaves school and wanders around town.

She runs into her cousin Jakie, who is mildly mentally disabled, and smokes a cigarette with him. She passes The Mouth’s church, criticizes his stentorian sign, and heads into the grocery store because they have a sign advertising their new meat department. Inside, she feels awkward and uninformed, so she buys a roast to cook for Ray.

She meets her friends Marina and Patty, who are babysitting. They invite her over for Bundt cake and vodka, but after eating the cake, Marina says the parents will be home soon. After leaving, Nomi sees Patty heading back to the house and realizes she’s been ditched.

At home, Ray returns from work and asks if she wants to go to the dump with him. On the way, Nomi apologizes to Ray after realizing she lost the roast she bought for him. At the dump, the employee recognizes Ray, and Nomi realizes that he’s been organizing the dump at night “in a way [he] feels makes sense” (158). Nomi watches him and realizes that it’s important for Ray, so she plays along.

Nomi and Ray return to the house to see a bullet hole in their front window. The cop who comes to investigate says it’s likely local boys. Nomi notices that negative things like this tend to be energizing for Ray, and the mood in the house shifts for the next few days.

After Tash left, Nomi asked her mother whether Tash was going to hell; Trudie admitted she didn’t know. Trudie left her job at the library and began helping Sheridan Klippenstein’s grandmother with a leg wound. Nomi accompanied her at times, and she recalls Mrs. Klippenstein’s husband, who was excommunicated and lived in a shack next to the main house. One day after The Mouth visited, Trudie confessed to Nomi that Tash had become an atheist.

In the present, Travis muses about moving to Montreal. He invites Nomi to come, and she refuses and heads home, where she takes some of her sister’s Valium. Then she notices that the dining room table is missing; Ray has sold it along with the garage freezer. He tells her that he found Tash’s dead cat, Blackula, inside and asks if Nomi wants to help him finally bury it. She agrees, though she’s feeling the effects of the Valium. As Ray works, Nomi spaces out and asks him questions; he is either unaware that she’s high or ignores it.

When Ray leaves her alone, Nomi gets up and walks into town. She thinks about Travis moving away and how their opinions always differ. She has a vision of Tash, who asks her what she’s doing out there alone if she has a boyfriend. She sits in the garage thinking she’s had a good night when part of the garage roof collapses suddenly.