Navigating Early

Early reveals the skeleton is Martin Johannsen’s; the skeleton’s blue jacket beneath Early’s has a Civil War medal pinned to it, beneath which is a bullet hole, and the pocket holds an $18 receipt for the rifle from the catalog. Jack wonders who did this to Martin, and Early states it was an accident but refuses to elaborate further. He insists they must take the bones back to Martin’s waiting mother. Jack points out they cannot carry the skeleton themselves; he suggests taking the medal instead, and someone else can return for the remains.

While they walk back out, Jack suddenly realizes Martin’s gun is missing. He remembers the gun was priced at $17.50, with an extra 50 cents for engraving; the receipt said $18, so Martin must have gotten it engraved. Jack remembers MacScott running his finger over the engraving on a gun stock at the Bear Knuckle Inn.

Just then, MacScott’s voice booms out in the cavern, and the boys find themselves facing down the barrel of his gun. Early realizes MacScott is Archibald, the boy who stopped by Martin’s house to show off his gun. MacScott narrates what happened: He and Martin had placed a bet that whichever one of them managed to shoot a bulls-eye on target would get the other’s gun. MacScott missed, but Martin shrugged off the bet and settled for bragging rights. Enraged that Martin didn’t think his gun was good enough to take, MacScott shot at Martin as he walked away, meaning to send the bullet passed him, and asked him to come back. When Martin didn’t answer, MacScott walked up to check and found Martin lying on the ground, the bullet having gone right through him.

Jack realizes Early was right about Martin’s death being an accident. MacScott moved his body to the cave to keep it safe from animals, but when he went down to tell Eustasia and saw her calling Martin in for dinner, he lost his nerve. The boys suggest he could still tell her, but MacScott believes it is too far gone now; Eustasia is better off waiting for her son to return. Meanwhile, he is hunting everything he can find, starting with the big bear. Jack realizes MacScott has been working for every hunting trophy in Maine to make up for his missed bulls-eye and because the one accident shot he did make is eating him up inside.

Early points out that MacScott has been visiting Eustasia all these years—her firewood was chopped up, and cigarette stubs of the same brand MacScott is smoking were littered around the house. He has seen Eustasia and knows she cannot die until Martin returns. MacScott insists he can do nothing, but Jack sees the regret on his face and suggests trying the bullseye again. MacScott makes a deal that if he cannot hit the mark, he will let the boys go; if he does, he will kill them. The three of them head outside, where they tack up a crumpled piece of paper from Martin’s jacket pocket that had been used as the target years ago against a tree. As soon as MacScott backs off to take his position, the boys begin to run. Their path leads to a sharp rocky incline; Early scales it comfortably, but when Jack is halfway up, a snake bites his hand, and he falls back down.

Early arrives at Jack’s side to check on him, applying ointment to the snakebite, which Early believes could potentially be venomous. Before the boys can escape again, MacScott arrives and trains his gun on them but stops short when the big bear emerges from a recess in the stone wall. MacScott looks at the bear with a pained expression before firing at it and missing; the bear bellows and charges at MacScott, mauling him before disappearing again.

Jack looks away from the horrific sight to find Early lying on the ground in the throes of a seizure. A grizzled woodsman emerges from the trees, cradling Early and turning him onto his side until the seizure subsides. Jack’s hand starts to hurt, and his body is racked with chills; he believes he is having a venom-induced hallucination when he sees Early place his hand on the woodsman’s face and call him “Fisher.”

Jack fades in and out of consciousness. He remembers snapshots of being carried by a lean bear while Early triumphantly talks to it, calling it “Fisher.” Jack is tucked into a bed in Eustasia’s house; he sees Early tell the bear to come back while it sobs and says something to Early, making the boy cry in turn. Jack wakes up to Eustasia placing a hot poultice on his hand, asking him to get better. Her voice sounds like Jack’s mother’s, and Jack apologizes for going away; his mother’s voice soothes him, saying everyone loses their way sometimes, but she knew he’d come back. Jack says he misses her, and she responds that she misses him too but is right here; Jack then slips into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning, Jack wakes up with a hurting hand but a clear head; he remembers Eustasia was the one speaking to him, but they were soothed by each other anyway, as they spoke to each other as mother and son. Jack finds Early at the kitchen table, sorting jellybeans, and Early announces that Eustasia is dead. Jack knows that when Early sorts jellybeans by color, he is trying to calm himself down, and when he sorts by number, he is trying to organize his thoughts; at the moment, Early is doing both.

Early reveals that after Jack was brought in, Eustasia hugged Early and thanked him for bringing Martin back. This morning, when Early went to check on her, she was still in bed, already passed away. When Jack asks about the woodsman, Early states that he is gone before a tear rolls down his cheek, and he sweeps all the sorted jellybeans to the floor.

Jack walks over to Early, who sits on the porch surrounded by his newspaper articles, wanting to console him for thinking the woodsman was Fisher. Unsure what to say, Jack talks about MacScott missing the bear instead, and Early suggests he was actually trying to get the bear to kill him; the pain on MacScott’s face suggested he wanted to be put out of his misery. Jack spots the article with the wrong dead bear and now recognizes the hunter as MacScott. Jack wonders when MacScott knew he had made a mistake, and Early asserts Fisher knew from the beginning. Confused, Jack looks closer at the picture and realizes the lumberjack in the background is the woodsman who appeared the previous night.

At Jack’s disbelief that this is what instigated Early’s search, Early explodes, saying that all the evidence is there, but Jack won’t listen; he burrows into his green jacket and begins to cry. Jack suggests they need to bury Eustasia, but when the boys head out, a fresh grave has already been dug and sealed, with a cross marker bearing Martin’s name and Early’s red jacket next to it.

Jack asks Early where he got his new green jacket from, but Early refuses to tell him. When Jack examines it closely, he realizes it is a military jacket with the name “AUDEN” stitched in front. He slowly remembers parts of what he thought was a dream—Early wasn’t talking to a bear but to the woodsman who carried Jack here. The woodsman refused to come back and left after placing his coat around a crying Early’s shoulders, asking him to go home. Jack notices walnut shells near Martin’s grave and realizes Fisher is the one who buried him; he has been watching over the boys all this time.

Jack asks Early to tell him how he knew Fisher was alive. Early explains that Fisher’s squad had been tasked with destroying a bridge across a river in France, and their explosives had a detonator. The enemy tank that destroyed the squad’s shelter was later destroyed on the bridge, which means someone pushed the detonator after the shelter blew up. Early checked the records, and the night was a full moon; he realized Fisher had removed his dog tags when he swam underwater to rig up the explosive because he didn’t want them to glint in the moonlight. He was the one who pushed the detonator to destroy the tank.

Early reveals he asked Fisher to come home, but even while he talked to Fisher, it felt like he wasn’t really there. Jack doesn’t know what to say, and a teary Early suggests that they bury Eustasia and return home.

The boys bury Eustasia next to her son and begin walking home; Jack calculates that it has been six days since they left the school. They reach the covered bridge across the river, and Early stops to throw Fisher’s dog tags into the water. Jack immediately jumps in to retrieve them, struck with a sense of deja vu from when he tried to retrieve his navigator ring from the pool.

Jack remembers how John began clearing up the house and packing everything away a couple of weeks after Elaine’s funeral. However, when Elaine’s teacup was placed in a box of things marked for the Salvation Army, Jack snapped. He refused to carry the box out, picking up the teacup and yelling at John that he wouldn’t forget his mother; the cup slipped and shattered, and his father dismissed him in the stern voice of a soldier. Jack went outside and threw his navigator ring into the river behind his house.

Jack resurfaces with the dog tags and insists Early should keep them, as they are Fisher’s, and he is still Early’s brother. The boys head to a nearby shack, where they get a fire started to warm up and eat. Early reflects on how, when he was asking Fisher to come home, Fisher didn’t seem to understand him, as if he were speaking a different language. Jack points out that Fisher is hurt and sad, mourning people he lost, just like Pi in the story; he needs more time in “empty space” to think things through.

Early points out to a shocked Jack that Pi and Fisher remind him of Jack’s father. John loves Jack: Being a navigator, he is the one who taught Jack the names of stars when he was younger; his mother didn’t know them. John also potentially completed Jack’s soapbox car—Early has seen Jack’s skills, he is not good enough to have done so himself, and Jack admitted he doesn’t remember finishing the car. When Jack points out that John packed up all of Elaine’s things, Early suggests he carries it around like a burden.

The boys spot MacScott’s men near the cabin and realize they are near the Bear Knuckle Inn. They wonder where the Maine may be stashed and discover it in the shack underneath the tarpaulin sheet they had been sitting on. They run it down to the river and begin rowing; Early starts some calculations in his book, while Jack realizes that maybe Fisher needs someone who can speak his own language—a soldier’s language.

The boys return to the academy and are welcomed by reprimands and cheers from the teachers and students, respectively. John arrived mid-week when the weather cleared and discovered Jack missing; search parties had been sent out for Jack and Early. However, John seems relieved, not angry, to see Jack again.

The next morning, John takes the boys into the woods to find Fisher and speaks to the latter privately. Jack later learns that Fisher had been wounded by fallen debris from the explosion and almost drowned. He was found by a farmer who helped him recuperate. When he learned that his entire squad was killed and he was presumed dead, his grief and regret prevented him from rejoining the war that was already coming to a close; he made his way back to Maine and made a home in the woods.

John tells Fisher his mission is over, and it is time to come home; Fisher tearfully agrees. He is taken to the hospital, where he can be treated and recover from malnourishment. Early and Jack visit him every day. A few days later, John drives the boys to the Fall Math Institute to watch Dr. Stanton present his thesis. After he finishes his calculations and explanations, Early walks up to the chalkboard and lists out his own, correcting Dr. Stanton’s numbers and displaying the existence of one. Presenting his proof by contradiction, Early notes how one had only disappeared for a while, like Pi, who needed time in empty space until someone found him.

For a long time, Pi lies alone, caught between life and death, until he hears a voice. A figure leans over and helps him out of the hole he has fallen into; when they emerge, Pi realizes the person is his father. He learns his father had been out hunting when the village was destroyed and was devastated by what he found on his return. He waited for Pi to return for months, and when he didn’t, he was heartbroken and drawn to the catacombs, just like Pi. Now reunited, father and son make their way out of the catacombs following the drawings on the cave walls, among which is a bear leading her cubs. When they eventually emerge from behind a waterfall onto dry ground, Pi realizes that his hands are not translucent anymore.

Once Early finishes, to Dr. Stanton’s consternation, the moderator announces that many people would like to take a closer look at Early’s calculations and ask him questions. On the drive back to school, Jack reflects on how Pi’s journey is relevant to his father, too. John apologizes to Jack for bringing him so far from home; he didn’t know what to do when Elaine died and packed up her things, thinking that if he just put things in order, he could make things right. He asks Jack if he wants to head home, but Jack doesn’t mind the school anymore; he has also recently wrecked a boat and asks his father if he will help him build a new one.

Fisher improves tremendously under the attention of a pretty candy striper at the hospital, who turns out to be the bartender from the Bear Knuckle Inn. Her real name is Ethel, but she now goes by Pauline, as she likes that name better.

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Jack mails Gunnar’s letter, but it comes back marked “Return to Sender.” However, when he chooses Hopkins as the topic for his famous poet essay, Miss B. lends him a book with an inscription that reads, “To E. from G. Christmas 1928” (292). When Jack learns that her favorite poem is “The Starlight Night,” he deduces she is Emmaline and hands over Gunnar’s letter.

Once he is better, Fisher returns to find and bury MacScott’s body, but it and the rifle are missing, with a trail of blood leading down to the river. Early theorizes that MacScott, presumably still alive after the attack, went to the river to drink, and the rifle’s weight dragged him in and drowned him.

Jack reflects on how his mother was right about everything being interconnected. On his wall is a constellation of his own making, where he has marked different starts for his father, Gunnar and Emmaline, Fisher, Martin and Eustasia, and Early and himself; they connect in the shape of a teacup.

The other boys love Early and Jack’s tale of adventure, and Jack retells it often. Early begins to be invited to join the other boys, and he even starts to attend classes regularly. The boys continue going on their early morning rows together. On a walk together to the beach, Jack asks about the sandbags, and Early reveals he was trying to build a huge lighthouse on top of which he wanted to light a bonfire to guide Fisher home. Jack reflects on how Early, his friend, helped him from being swept away.