Empire Falls

Tick is interrupted in her solitary lunch by the principal, who brings in the desultory John Voss. The silent boy is constantly being bullied, primarily by Zack Minty, Tick’s erstwhile boyfriend. The principal hopes that Tick could befriend the outcast. Tick, herself fairly far down on the rungs of the high school social ladder, is not thrilled at the prospect. Yet she finds herself sitting next to the boy and asking about his art project: He drew an egg in response to the assignment asking the students to draw one of their dreams. The conversation develops, in fits and starts, into an intriguing philosophical debate: According to John, his mom said, “If chickens had any idea what was in store for them, they’d stay where they were in their eggs” (183). John confesses that his father left, then his mother left; now he is staying with his grandmother. Tick is intrigued by this quiet, obviously intelligent boy, but their potentially burgeoning friendship is interrupted.

Zack Minty saunters into the lunchroom—the door was supposed to be locked, but the principal has forgotten—and wanders over to Tick and John. He wonders, out loud and aggressively, why she would be speaking to John, and why she no longer wants to date him. He flicks a quarter at John’s forehead, leaving a mark. Though Tick despises his behavior, she cannot help but miss the circle of friends that she gained through her association with Zack. She can see why most of the girls find him good-looking. Zack asks her to “hang out” after the football game, and she says she will consider it. This leads Zack to pester John about coming—Tick knows nothing good will come of this—and he feels bullied enough to acquiesce. Tick agrees to join Zack’s crew, as well. As they leave the cafeteria, Zack starts teasing John about his lunch, which even Tick agrees—silently—smells awful. She has left him half of her uneaten sandwich, which he waits until they leave to eat.

Janine is practicing her new signature—"Janine Louise Comeau” (191)—on cocktail napkins at her mother Bea’s bar. She is thinking of her soon-to-be ex-husband and how stuck in his routine he is, once showing up at the house after work after they had split up. She and Walt had been so startled they thought Miles had come to murder them. She is wasting some time at Bea’s bar to prevent her from obsessing about food; she reckons her mother will irritate her enough to push the urge to eat out of her mind. Bea points out that Janine’s obsession with her weight might be impacting her daughter.

Further, Bea argues that Janine isn’t really changing: “You’re just losing weight. There’s a difference. If you woke up one morning thinking of somebody but yourself, that would be a change” (196). It is just the quarrel Janine needs to distract her from her cravings. She is about to storm out, angry with Bea’s observations, when Bea stops her short. She says she can prove Janine has not changed and points to the last of the cocktail napkins Janine has been scribbling on: It says “Janine Louise Roby” three times in a neat row (197).

Miles has hired John Voss to be the restaurant’s new bus boy, at his daughter’s behest. David and Charlene are puzzled by his choice, as John remains as much of a silent cipher as ever. He has been discussing this with Father Mark, who talks about the essential selfishness of human beings even if we do have the impulse to behave charitably at times. Max has been helping Miles paint the church—even though Miles expressly said he would not allow it—and has “struck up a surprising friendship with” Father Tom (201). Father Mark and Miles are not sure what exactly to make of the friendship—perhaps Max is confessing to the dementia-addled priest—but agree that it bears watching.

On the ride home, Max suggests that Miles should marry “that cripple” (206), referring to Cindy Whiting, just as Mrs. Whiting suggested Miles might feel obligated to do. Miles asks his father to stop calling her by an offensive moniker, but he reflects upon the coincidence that both his father and Mrs. Whiting should mention a match with Cindy. Earlier, he called about a property on Martha’s Vineyard, immediately taken aback by the enormous expense; it was far beyond his means. Max finds the real estate brochure and begins humming a tune about marriage.

When Miles arrives at the Empire Grill, the place is packed: David’s International Nights keep people coming in, despite the lack of a liquor license. Miles was supposed to bring this up with Mrs. Whiting, but he keeps conveniently forgetting, not wanting to face a negative response. In the interim, he talks to Tick about her acquaintance with Zack, but they are interrupted by John Voss. The moment passes, and Miles doesn’t have the time to warn her about “getting herself trapped” in Empire Falls (216). He gives her the rest of the evening off to go to the movies with Zack and his friends. 

Miles, David, and Charlene go out to celebrate the booming new business at the Empire Grill. Charlene asks him about why he hired John Voss, and Miles reflects on taking the boy home one night. His house looked rundown and dark, as if nobody actually lived there. Miles admits it might have been a mistake to hire him, but they both agree that he has so far proven himself a hard worker.

The conversation turns to the liquor license: David makes it clear that Miles is costing the restaurant—and himself—a lot of money by dragging his feet on the issue. Instead of being worried about Jimmy Minty’s insinuation that David is growing marijuana, he reasons, Miles should be worried about creating a financially secure future for himself and his daughter. He becomes angrier as he lectures Miles on being so overly cautious that he ensures his own failure. Finally, David leaves in a huff, as everyone in the bar can hear his raised voice. Charlene follows to talk to David, then she returns to reassure Miles: “Your brother loves you [...]. He just worries about you, same as you worry about him. You exasperate each other, is all” (225). Miles agrees, bolstered by the martini that Horace Weymouth bought him in commiseration, and mentions that he does know what he wants with regard to some issues. Charlene politely dismisses him with a kiss on the forehead, and they leave the bar. After she drives away, Miles catches sight of Horace leaving the bar and thanks him. Horace waves it off, suggesting that family is always difficult. He also tells Miles, before they part, to “keep an eye on that new boy you hired” (229).

Another memory of Miles’s is recounted here, this one from when he was a junior in high school. Max buys a car, ostensibly to teach Miles how to drive, but Max manages to accumulate several speeding tickets, not to mention flatten a cat, so the car is sold. Thus, when Miles takes his first drive in the driver’s ed car, he knows literally nothing about how to operate a motor vehicle. A scene of mayhem ensues, wherein the driver’s ed teacher is almost knocked unconscious and two of the other students in the car come away with injuries. The aggrieved teacher wants to kick Miles out of the class, but the principal—a kind and decent man, though an outsider—finds the story so genuinely hilarious that he insists that Miles stay in the class. In the end, the teacher fails him, and again the principal intervenes, reasonably suggesting that Miles would only have to repeat the course.

Thus, it comes to pass that Mrs. Whiting, lately his mother’s employer, teaches Miles how to drive. His mother has changed since she lost the factory job and went to work for the Whitings. She has become obsessed not merely with the pitiable Cindy but also with the entire household, and her relationship with Miles has become more distant as a result. He thinks, “[H]is mother had found another family” (242). The driving lessons also present challenges in the form of Cindy: He has to wait with her after school each day for Mrs. Whiting to pick them up and commence lessons. This leaves him open to ridicule from the other students, though he tries his best to be decent to Cindy.

Mrs. Whiting is as imperious in the car as she is in her other dealings, though she does genuinely seem to like Miles. In their first lesson, she encourages him to “floor it,” then, as he is about to run out of road, to stop quickly (248). He squeals the tires and skids a bit into the grass, but Mrs. Whiting does not seem to be upset at all. She indicates that this was a lesson about power and control: “You can’t possibly judge your ability to control something until you’ve experienced the extremes of its capabilities,” she tells him (248-49).