Empire Falls

Zack is staked out at John Voss’s house with one of the members of his entourage, Justin Dibble. He is determined to find out whatever he can about the odd boy who insists on talking to Tick. He is also resolved to figure out why John does not seem to have any fear: Zack introduced him to “the game,” a form of Russian roulette wherein all of the bullets are actually emptied from the chamber. The point is to show that, even though everyone knows there are no bullets in the gun, one would still flinch when the trigger is pulled next. Zack always flinches, but John does not. Zack is worried that, in the wake of John’s fearlessness, the ante will have to be raised, and the game will have to be played with real bullets. The game is also why Tick broke up with him again—and likely for good—as it did not seem like a harmless lark to her.

Zack is also restless because, in the aftermath of the homecoming game, he has been ostracized from the football team. His brutal late hit on the opposing team’s quarterback—who still has not healed—attracted a lot of negative publicity, and he has been effectively benched. This frustration, coupled with misogynistic anger over the loss of Tick, needs an outlet, and he has decided that John Voss is his target. Zack sneaks into the house where John says he lives with his grandmother while Justin plays lookout in the car. He comes out, overwhelmed with excitement, shouting that what he has found is “SO [EXPLETIVE] GREAT!” (380).

Tick is back in art class, watching yet another episode of the local access television show starring the painter Bill Taylor, with whom her teacher is obsessed. He mostly paints landscape scenes, but the most impressive thing he does is complete an entire painting within the confines of each hour-long episode. Tick is amazed by his nonchalance when he makes a mistake, confident that he can merely fix it later: “She looks forward to the day when she, too, will have dozens of good tricks with which to magically transform mistakes. But what she’d most like is to acquire the whole attitude” (381). She is aware that going back to Zack was a mistake, but befriending John Voss might also be a mistake. She also feels badly for John because Zack’s bullying has intensified since Tick broke it off with him.

Tick also knows that she is on the verge of upsetting the art teacher again, who has assigned the class to paint a bouquet of flowers that she brought to class. Tick decides to paint the flowers as they decay, with the shadowy figures of her classmates and the teacher herself looming in the background. She is certain that her teacher did not intend these artistic embellishments. But, she decides, the painting is complete because, as with Bill Taylor’s program, “the hour is up” (388).

Miles remembers the year he is about to graduate from college. With one semester to go, Mrs. Whiting calls him. His mother is gravely ill; she has been receiving chemotherapy treatments for the last couple of months, and Miles must come home immediately. Mrs. Whiting will cover all her medical bills, as Grace has not carried health insurance since her factory days. Miles, by this point, has “gotten good at coming up with excuses to avoid Empire Falls” (389). He has started to blame his mother for not leaving his father, though he begins to realize that, for all intents and purposes, she has. Not only that, but she has also left him and his brother David as well. The Whitings are now her family: “She not only had walked away from the life he considered her to be trapped in but also had acquired another new whole family” (391). Mrs. Whiting tells Miles that help is needed at the Empire Grill, and he can work there until his mother recuperates.

A couple of summers before this, Grace sent Miles a notice of Charlie Whiting’s death. It was covered as an accident in the paper, though Max informs Miles that it was a suicide. It puzzled him that the newspaper clipping Grace sent omitted the photo of Whiting. She only said that Cindy was in need of some comfort. He also remembers how, back in high school, his mother was almost manically focused on two things: first, that Cindy Whiting would have a date to the prom; and second, that Miles would leave Empire Falls for good. He knew that Mrs. Whiting’s plan to bring him back during her illness would meet with resistance. 

Principal Meyer has been receiving unsigned notes that read “Where is John Voss’s grandmother?” (401). The boy has supposedly been living with his grandmother, yet nobody—including the guilt-ridden principal himself—has actually checked on this fact. After Meyer receives the third note, he decides that he has to check out the situation for himself. Before leaving school, he stops by the cafeteria to talk to John, but the boy hasn’t come to school that day. Instead, he speaks to Zack Minty, convinced that it is Zack who has been writing the anonymous notes. He also recalls some of the horrors of John’s file, which reveals the abuse that the child suffered at the hands of his negligent parents.

Out at the property, Meyer decides to break into the house, fearing something is horribly wrong. A stake in the front yard with a heavy chain linked to it is empty, as is the house. He calls the police chief, as he does not trust Jimmy Minty alone to meet him at the property. The chief and Minty search the place, finding nothing—no electricity, no water, no body. Meyer tells Minty his son has been writing the notes, which Minty flatly denies. John is still missing, and Meyer stops by the Empire Grill to tell Miles about these developments. He also shares some information from the young man’s file, knowing this is a violation of privacy rules. Still, he feels Miles should know about this history of abuse, for Tick’s sake.

Janine is working at Walt’s club and stewing in her frustration. The body of John’s grandmother has been found at the public dump, though there is still no sign of the boy himself. Janine, however, is preoccupied with her own thoughts of betrayal: It appears as if the Silver Fox has very little in the way of money or assets. He was not merely lying about his age, but also about his wealth: “Walt didn’t even own the building that housed his health club but rented it from that damn Whiting woman who owned the Empire Grill and half the town. [...] There were even two mortgages on that little piece-of-[expletive] house he was renting out since he moved in with her” (417). Janine wants to speak to Miles who, despite his many flaws, was always a good listener. She calls someone to cover the rest of her shift and begins the drive over to the restaurant.

On the way, she sees Tick walking hunched underneath the weight of her backpack. She offers to take her to Callahan’s where Tick wants to do her homework in peace. Janine wants to talk to her about the Voss boy and to repair some of the damage between them, but she gets annoyed at the first insult lobbed her way and orders Tick out of the car. As she starts to drive away in anger, Tick hollers at her to stop: Janine has started to drive away with Tick’s backpack half in the car and half on her daughter’s back, wrenching Tick off the ground. She isn’t seriously injured, but she is terribly startled and scared. Janine tries to apologize, but Tick runs off, leaving Janine frustrated enough to kick a dent in the car. She shakily gets back into the car trying to find Tick, sobbing as she realizes that “her daughter had disappeared” (421).

Miles and David are returning to the Empire Grill after doing more work over at Callahan’s. Miles still has not told Mrs. Whiting that they plan to reopen the kitchen at Callahan’s and leave the Empire Grill. On the way to the restaurant, they see a white limo at the closed factory, with men in suits speaking to Mrs. Whiting. Perhaps the rumors that someone has come to buy the old textile factory are true.

Miles thinks about John as he pulls into a parking spot, half expecting to see the boy but knowing he probably won’t. Horace finally told Miles what he saw a few weeks ago at the Voss property that had shaken him so much: Voss had been beating and choking a dog that was held by a chain tied to a stake in the ground in front of the house. When the dog finally gave up, Voss tried to soothe it, “cooing” at it and “gently stroking its wounded flanks” until the dog “licked his face” (424). Horace also revealed that there were several dead dogs found in the dump near the grandmother’s body. Miles tried to softly warn his daughter about Voss, explaining “that something in him was broken and that simple kindness might not be enough to fix it” (424). Tick did not want to hear this.

Miles also reflects upon his newfound knowledge that David and Charlene, his love interest since high school, have been having an affair for a long time. Rather than be angry, Miles is surprised that he hadn’t figured this out sooner. His father calls, upset that Father Tom has been retrieved, and Miles asks him—in a roundabout fashion—if David is really his son. Max says yes, he knows that David is his son, just as Miles is sure Tick is his daughter—no blood test needed.

Everything is interrupted when Miles learns that Callahan’s has just been shut down by state health inspectors, and he is certain that Mrs. Whiting is behind it. He drives over to the factory to speak with her, but Jimmy Minty blocks his way. Miles punches Minty, who retaliates, and they spend a few minutes fighting. When Mrs. Whiting makes her way over to them, she inquires of Miles, “What was so important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” (434). He tells her that he is quitting the Empire Grill, but she warns him not to let his emotions overwhelm his good sense: Tick might need financial assistance with college, just as Miles had, and Mrs. Whiting can certainly provide this. The discussion turns to the fact that Miles knows about his mother’s affair with her husband, and whether her employing his mother was an act of “redemption” or “retribution” (435). Minty cuffs Miles and takes him to his car, reminding Miles of the screams he heard when Grace was dying: “Your being here is killing me. Killing me” (436). Too late, Miles remembers he is supposed to take Tick to Boston this weekend for the art show.

After Tick’s disastrous encounter with Janine, she goes to visit Candace, who has become her friend, much to Tick’s surprise. They trek over to the riverbank—where Tick believes she sees a woman across the river watching them—and exchange secrets. Candace had sex with Justin, and Tick confides that she kept the Exacto knife that Candace swiped and cut herself with months earlier. Tick thinks she should return it, but she won’t, because Zack will soon be out of the hospital—he contracted an infection from a mysterious cut on his shin—and her own father is in the hospital himself, awaiting transport to jail. She considers everything that has changed so quickly: “But everything would be back to normal before long?” (444).

Tick is remembering all of this as she sits in art class, disliking her painting. She looks out of the window and sees John headed toward the school. As always when she experiences anxiety, Tick’s “left arm had gone numb” (445). She had been relieved at his absence, even though she feels guilty for acknowledging this. He comes into the classroom with a grocery bag under his arm. When Justin, Zack’s friend and Candace’s boyfriend, asks him what’s in the bag, John takes out a revolver and shoots him. He also shoots the art teacher, and in the midst of this chaos, Tick stands up and reaches out an arm to him: “It occurs to Tick that Zack Minty’s stupid game has prepared her for this moment” (447). John admits to her that this scene is what he has actually been dreaming about, as per their conversation so many months ago. She braces herself for the gunshot.

Bea visits Miles in the hospital, chuckling at his injuries, while he apologizes for the trouble at Callahan’s. He intends to back away from their plans to reopen the kitchen there, but Bea pushes him to fight. Miles gestures to his battered face and suggests he has already tried. Janine stops by as well, and Father Mark comes to tell him that St. Catherine’s will be closed, and the parishes will be merged at Sacre Coeur. Cindy also comes to visit him, and they reminisce about the one time they kissed: It was right before Miles’s mother died, and Cindy had been keeping vigil at her bedside. She tells Miles that she will return to Augusta to be with a man that she is fond of, even if she doesn’t quite love him. Before she leaves, she warns him that her mother is “not finished with you, Miles” (453).

As Miles looks out the window toward the river, nursing his many aches and pains, the police chief comes into his room. He urges Miles to come with him. Miles learns that Justin Dibble, Mrs. Rodrigues the art teacher, and Principal Meyer have been killed in a shooting at school. Principal Meyer stepped between John and Tick to save her life. John tried to shoot himself, but the gun did not fire. When Miles is escorted into the classroom, he does not see Tick at first. When he does find her, hiding behind the door with an Exacto knife in her hand, he barely recognizes her. He picks her up and carries her out of the building and away from the scene. Though Jimmy Minty protests, the police chief simply lets Miles go.

Six months later, Miles and Tick are living at his college friends’ vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard. She has been attending school there and, despite some lapses, has started to come back to herself. As of yet, she has no recollection of cutting John with the Exacto knife when he aimed the gun at Candace, who is still in the hospital with spinal injuries from her shooting. Tick also slashed Zack Minty’s hand when he tried to assist her in the aftermath. Miles decides that it might be best that she forget as many details as she can. They have not returned to Empire Falls—or talked to Janine—since the incident. John has been declared incompetent to stand trial. David says it is time they return, but Miles is reluctant, saying, “She’s never going to get her hands on my daughter” (459)—referring not to Janine but to Mrs. Whiting.

However, it appears that Mrs. Whiting is leaving: She has sold the factory and the Empire Grill and is trying to sell her house. Empire Falls itself is going through a kind of renaissance, with new developments springing up—most significantly, “the new Knox River Restoration Project” (461)—and houses on the market finally selling. Bea’s tavern has reopened after her refusal to sell to investors backed by Mrs. Whiting, and David and Charlene are running things there. Miles, though, is still suspicious, waiting for Mrs. Whiting’s next move.

Amazingly, Miles spots Max as he waits for Tick at a local restaurant. Max says he intends to cheer them up, which he does; Tick is quite fond of him. Most days, Miles retreats to the library while Tick is in school, but he decides, once Max is there, to visit the village where he stayed with his mother those many years ago. Once there, he realizes that he has come to commune with the ghost of Charlie Mayne, accusing him of killing his mother by leaving her. But Charlie Mayne’s ghost says to Miles that this is not true. The problem was that Grace would not leave Miles behind: “You’re the one who killed your mother, not me” (471). Miles decides it is time to return to Empire Falls, once he has exorcised this ghost, and plans to tell Max and Tick as he comes into the house. Max informs him that he has just found out that Francine Whiting has died. She has drowned in the Knox River. The three leave for Empire Falls the next day.

The reader is returned to the thoughts of C. B. Whiting on the day he died. He has made a home for himself in Mexico, complete with a woman who loves him and a son he adores, when he is summoned back to Empire Falls. He knows that this is only because his wife, Francine Whiting, knows of his happiness and cannot abide it. This reminds him of everything that occurred before he fled back to Mexico. His love for Grace begins when she and Francine deliver their respective children on the same day at the same hospital. Charlie cannot help but notice how much Grace loves Miles, while Francine is so uncomfortable with their daughter. He seeks her out after that, until Grace succumbs to his charms. He also remembers the night he tosses a suitcase into his car, deciding to leave his wife in a rage, and instead backs over his daughter on his way out of the garage. Francine covers it up for him, and years later he confesses this to Grace, who forgives him. But when he asks Grace to leave Max, as he will leave Francine, he assumes that she will bring Miles—but that he will leave Cindy behind. Grace cannot forgive him for wanting to leave his child, and that is the end of the affair.

Charlie returns home, intending to kill his wife who forced him to come back. He purchases a gun and marches into the house with purpose. However, when he comes into the living room, he sees not only his wife but also his daughter, who was not supposed to be home, and Grace herself, his daughter’s caretaker. His plan has been thwarted by the God he made an enemy of so long before. He decides that he has found “a second, far better purpose for the weight in his pocket” (481).

The narrator explains that, had C. B. Whiting lived, “he might gradually have learned that his wife was not quite the monster he believed her to be” (481). Affection was hard for her but not impossible, as she revealed in her dealings with Grace and with Miles. He also might have discovered that the seeds for her ultimate doom were planted by his actions at the time he met her: the Knox River’s rerouting would indeed cause more flooding, and none more so than that spring when Miles and Tick were so far away in Martha’s Vineyard. For some reason, Mrs. Whiting had been out in the gazebo when the flood waters rushed in and washed her away.