Ordinary Grace

The Fourth of July arrives. Ruth sends Frank to Emil Brandt’s house and Jake to the house of the editor of the local paper. Frank arrives to the Brandt’s house to find neither Ariel nor Emil at home. He knocks then enters the residence, finding Lise Brandt, in a back bedroom, standing naked and ironing clothes: “The room was a glory of flowers cut from her garden…[h]er back was to me…I watched the strong muscles of her shoulders and back and buttocks tense and release and every part of her body seemed alive in itself and not just an element of some larger configuration of flesh” (142). Frank sneaks back out of the house and waits on the porch steps. Lise comes out twenty minutes later; Frank asks her where Ariel is, and Lise says that she doesn’t know.

Later, at lunch, Ariel tells her family that she had been out driving Emil around, for inspiration. Emil’s mood has improved, and “he was more inspired than he’d been in years” (143). Ruth and Ariel discuss Emil further, with Ruth saying that, “‘[Emil’s] always been a wounded man. He’s always been…too misunderstood, too little appreciated, too bound by our provincialism here, too everything that did not advance the wants, needs and desires of his own often selfish heart’” (144).

Ariel tells Ruth that Emil has attempted suicide before, prior to his last attempt; Ruth admits Emil has never told Ruth this, and Ariel says there may be a reason for that, then storms out of the house. Ruth calms herself by playing the piano. 

Frank describes the Fourth of July festivities in New Bremen:

The procession marched along Main Street between cheering throngs and turned at Luther Avenue and continued a quarter mile to Luther Park which was full of vendors selling cotton candy and hot dogs and bratwurst and mini-donuts and helium-filled balloons. Every organization in town seemed to have a table where they hawked homemade pickles or baked goods or beautifully crocheted antimacassars and pot holders. There were games with prizes and there were polka bands and a temporary dance floor that had been laid out on the grass. There were shows in the band shell that included local musicians and storytellers and performers of odd feats. And there was a beer tent courtesy of the Brandt brewery (146).

Frank, Jake and Danny O’Keefe move through the festival’s happenings. Frank spots Morris Engdahl while waiting in line for the bathroom; when he’s done, and steps out of the restroom, Engdahl has vanished. Frank meets back up with Jake and Danny, who have since been joined by Warren Redstone. The group watch a baton twirler then a person reading the Declaration of Independence. Engdahl, drunk, locates Frank and grabs his arm. Redstone intervenes, asking Engdahl, “‘Are you the kind of man who fights only boys? Or would you be interested in fighting a man?’” (148). Engdahl again says that he’s going to kill Frank then leaves. Redstone queries Frank as to who Engdahl is, and Frank tells him about the incident at the quarry. Redstone responds by asking Frank, “‘You sure you don’t have any Sioux in you?’” (148).

The New Bremen Town singers take the stage to perform a chorale titled “The Freedom Road,” written by Ariel. Emil plays the piano and Ruth Drum conducts. Frank describes his sister: “That evening Ariel had worn a beautiful red dress. She wore a gold heart-shaped locket inset with mother-of-pearl and a mother-of-pearl barrette, both of which were heirlooms” (150). Warren Redstone offers that Ariel is “‘[p]retty enough to be Sioux’” (150).  

Frank and Jake return home; late in the night, Frank wakes to his father talking on the telephone—Ariel has yet to return home.  

The next morning, Frank finds Sheriff Gregor, Karl Brandt, and a sheriff’s deputy in his home’s kitchen. Karl says that he and Ariel had been at a party on the bank of the river; alcohol had been involved, Karl had lost Ariel among the revelry, and no one has been able to locate her since.

Ruth phones Emil Brandt, hoping that Ariel is there, but Emil says she isn’t, and that he doesn’t know her whereabouts. The sheriffs head for Sibley Park, and Nathan says that he’ll join them there. Frank asks to come with him, and is surprised when Nathan says yes. Jake asserts that he’s coming as well. The Drums reach Sibley Park, where the remnants of the party the night prior remain: spent bonfires and beer cans, the husks of fireworks. Karl Brandt is there, along with the sheriffs. Brandt says that Morris Engdahl, very drunk, got into a fight with another boy over cars. Jake urges Frank to tell the sheriffs about Engdahl’s dislike of Ariel, which Frank does, passing along that Engdahl has called Ariel a “skag” and a “harelip” (157). Officer Doyle, also present, deems Engdahl “scum” (157). The group heads up the trail, toward the road, save for Doyle, who heads downriver.