Beach Music

The next morning, the brothers meet at the hospital again. They are joined by their father, Johnson Hagood McCall, who shows up drunk and is resentful and unkind toward Dr. Pitts. The group is also joined by Jack’s youngest brother, John Hardin. John Hardin has schizophrenia, and the brothers worry because he hasn’t received his monthly medication.

Late in the afternoon, the brothers find their dad passed out in an empty hotel room, having consumed an entire bottle of vodka.

Back in his childhood home, Jack’s brothers tell him that Ruth Fox, Shyla’s mother, is hoping to speak with him while he’s in town. Ruth lives next door, and Jack sees her standing on her porch. She waves. Reluctantly, Jack nods back.

The following day at the hospital, John Hardin has an outburst, accusing the hospital of trying to kill Lucy rather than save her.

Jack wonders if he has done Leah a favor or a disservice by keeping her away from the family. Dr. Pitts tells Jack that Lucy wants to receive her last rites from Father Jude, a Trappist monk at nearby Mepkin Abbey.

Jack drives to Mepkin Abbey to pick up Father Jude. He recalls visiting the monastery as a child and remembers witnessing an unusual closeness between his mother and Father Jude.

Father Jude weeps when he sees Lucy unconscious in the hospital bed. He prays for Lucy, administering the last rites.

Jack calls to check in on Leah. She tells him that Shyla’s parents called her the night before and they had a long conversation. Jack’s brothers pass the phone around so that they can all say hello. Leah asks for a story before Jack hangs up, and he tells her a “Great Dog Chippie” story—one of a set of fantastical stories about Jack’s childhood dog.

Jack has dinner at Mike Hess’s vacation home. Ledare is there, and she informs Jack that she’s agreed to work on Mike’s TV project. Mike and Jack get into a shouting match when Jack repeats that he doesn’t want Shyla’s story appearing on TV. Mike cruelly implies that Jack is the reason Shyla killed herself. They also fight about Jordan Elliot. Accusing Jack about lying about Jordan’s death, Mike shows Jack the photos taken at the confessional in Rome.

Mike surprises Ledare and Jack by inviting Capers Middleton and his new wife, Betsy, to join them for dinner. Jack and Ledare are both upset by the surprise, since neither of them is on good terms with Capers. Jack is unkind to Betsy, hoping that it will get under Capers’s skin.

Jack visits Jordan’s mother, Celestine, to warn her that Mike and Capers know Jordan is alive. Jack is surprised to find Jordan’s father, General Rembert Elliot, at home. The general confronts Jack and Celestine, revealing that he’s seen the photographs taken of Jordan in Rome. The general has believed his son dead until this point. Jack refuses to give any information to the general, who feels it is his duty to report Jordan’s whereabouts to the authorities.

Lucy wakes from her coma. She expresses her desire to visit Jack and Leah in Rome.

In Waterford, Jack visits a family friend and Mike’s grandfather, Max Rusoff, who owns the department store in town. Max urges Jack to speak with Ruth and George Fox. In response, Jack asks Max to tell him the story of his early life in Ukraine, and the rest of the chapter details Max’s story.

By order of the Russian Tsar, Max’s family was forced to live in an impoverished district of town with other Jewish families. Max’s father and mother died when he was young, and he apprenticed with a butcher to learn a trade. Max’s town suffered a brutal attack during the Russian Civil War. Max killed a soldier in defense of a beautiful young Jewish woman. Even though his crime was motivated by good, Max’s religious community never forgave him this sin; the rabbi demanded that he leave town. Max sailed to America and ended up in South Carolina where he worked as a traveling salesman before establishing a department store. In his early days in South Carolina, Max developed a friendship with Jack’s grandfather.

Jack finally decides to speak with Ruth. He reminds her of the terrible hurt she and her husband caused when they sued him for custody of Leah. Ruth apologizes, and says she wants to explain. Jack asks her to start by explaining the full meaning of the phrase “the Lady of the Coins,” Shyla’s last words. Ruth doesn’t explain anything yet, although she will eventually. She begs Jack to consider speaking with George. Jack tells her that he and Leah will come back for another visit, and he might speak with George then.

That afternoon, John Hardin takes over the bridge in town, threatening law enforcement with a gun and refusing to let any cars cross the bridge. Jack and his other brothers try convincing John Hardin to back down. He only agrees when they comply with his demands to strip naked and jump into the river. The brothers swim home, enjoying their time together and feeling like boys again. Jack vows to himself to tell Leah everything.

On the drive to the airport the next morning, Jack signs on to the TV project with Mike and Ledare.

Chapter 17 opens by recounting how Jack’s parents met and came to own the historic home where Jack grew up. Lucy “invented her own autobiography” (252) when she met Jack’s father, to conceal her poverty-stricken past and her illiteracy from Johnson Hagood’s snobby family. Her made-up story about her past is what everyone—including her sons—believes to be true. Later in the novel, she will tell her true story to Jack.