The Accidental Tourist

While Macon is staying in Manitoba, Sarah calls his hotel room, asking if she can move back into their house because her lease is ending. Sarah suggests an arrangement where she’ll pay for any repairs the insurance doesn’t cover instead of paying rent. Macon agrees. Sarah tells Macon the final divorce papers arrived, adding that she wasn’t prepared for the emotion it brought up in her. Macon gets off the phone quickly. 

Porter’s children are staying with Porter and Charles now, and as a result, Rose has moved back home with her brothers to help care for them, though she still brings casseroles to Julian in their apartment.

While flying to Edmonton, Macon reassures the woman flying with him about the plane's safety. She is terrified, and Macon puts on a cool front to comfort her. When he gets off the plane, he wonders if maybe he has become the relaxed person he pretended to be for his seatmate. 

In Edmonton, Sarah calls again. They discuss the house, and Sarah questions why some of the sheets are sewn in half and why the popcorn maker is in the bedroom. Macon can hardly remember that period of his life anymore. They talk about the weather, and Sarah says she wishes she was with him to watch the distant rain together. Macon feels like he is breaking into pieces. 

In Vancouver, they talk about the weather again. Macon realizes that just like before, he’s “won [Sarah’s] attention only by withdrawing” (289). She asks him if he plans to stay with Muriel forever. Macon says he’s not sure and realizes how unfamiliar Muriel’s name sounds. 

When he arrives back in Baltimore, Macon retrieves his car and drives to Singleton Street. However, once he arrives, he hesitates and doesn’t turn down the street. Instead, he drives back to his old neighborhood, to his house. He can see the lights on upstairs, indicating Sarah is there. He feels he has come home.

Macon and Sarah fall back into their lives together. They go couch shopping since most of their furniture was ruined by the burst pipe. Macon has moved Edward back into their house. Macon recalls the awkwardness as he gathered his things from Muriel’s, having told her that he was moving back in with Sarah. Muriel asked him if he was “really doing this” and if he “can just use a person up and then move on” (297). 

After picking out a couch, Macon and Sarah visit Rose to pick up fertilizer. Despite Porter’s children moving back with their mother, Rose has elected to stay at Grandfather Leary’s house with Charles and Porter because they had fallen apart without her, staying in their pajamas all day to reduce laundry and making weird, efficient dinners instead of balanced meals. 

Macon and Sarah have lunch at the Old Bay restaurant. While it previously annoyed Sarah that Macon always wanted to eat there, it was her choice this time to go, saying, “There are worse things than boring, I’ve decided” (299). Over lunch, Sarah tells Macon about the man she was seeing while they were separated. She explains that she initially liked things about him, but she soon became annoyed by them and longed for Macon’s habits. Macon thinks about how it annoyed him when Muriel mispronounced “et cetera,” but now he misses it. Sarah says she thinks that, at a certain age, you lose your ability to choose who you spend your life with, saying, “You’re who I’m with. It’s too late for me to change. I’ve used up too much of my life now” (301). Macon adds that they can only choose what to lose, referring to Muriel and the man Sarah had spent time with. 

After lunch, Macon is alone in the house while Sarah takes an art class. He longs to speak to someone and calls Muriel to warn her that it’s bee season and Alexander needs his shots. Muriel scolds him for having the audacity to call about Alexander after abandoning them. She angrily tells him that Dominick is dead because he crashed her car on the way home from a party and that she’s on her way to console his mother. 

When they get off the phone, Macon recalls having to identify Ethan’s body for the police. Sarah waited outside while Macon took one last look at his dead son. He hoped Ethan would wake up, but he did not. Macon realized how little a person’s body is of a person, that a body could remain, but the person could still be gone. When he came out, Sarah became upset at Macon’s lack of emotion. She accused Macon of not being able to recognize Ethan, theorizing that it probably wasn’t even Ethan’s body. Macon explained that he had just discovered the futility of life while looking at Ethan, upsetting Sarah more. 

Julian visits and expresses to Macon that he’s worried Rose has left him. He’s concerned about the amount of time Rose dedicates to serving others. Macon suggests Julian offer Rose a job as his secretary but disguise it as Julian pleading for help from an organized person. Julian expresses that Macon is his best friend. 

When Sarah comes home, she and Macon discuss the new couch. Sarah is upset that Macon does not have strong opinions. They end up making love, which Macon describes as “comfortable and soothing” (310). After dinner at their neighbors’ house, which neither was enthused about attending, they go to bed, but Macon struggles to sleep through the night. 

Macon flies to France. On the plane, he encounters Muriel, who called Macon’s travel agent to book the same flight and hotel as Macon. She insists Macon needs her. Macon thinks Muriel will know nothing about traveling to France because she wore white for the flight, and she’d have known better if she had read his travel guide. Surprisingly, Muriel has read his guide and uses that knowledge to traverse the city on her own. After multiple attempts to get Macon to spend time with her, Muriel finally convinces Macon to join her for dinner at Burger King. 

Macon asks about Alexander, and Muriel rattles off the elaborate guardianship plan she’s orchestrated with her family and neighbors, vividly reminding Macon about Singleton Street. In the elevator, Muriel asks if she can join Macon in his room. He declines, telling her he can’t change now that he’s been married for so long. Macon runs into Muriel again the next afternoon and helps her carry her bags to her room. She’s bought many items she’ll have to worry about getting home and helped herself to the mini-bar despite its high cost. 

They go to a nice restaurant, and Muriel motivates Macon to try a new food instead of the same safe salad from his guidebook. Muriel asks where Macon is going tomorrow, and he informs her that he is traveling to a different city. Muriel asks him to take her, but he tells her no. Muriel says she has slept poorly and has dreams that Dominick is mad at her. Macon assures her that Dominick is probably happy wherever he is. At their hotel, Muriel begs Macon to join her in her room to ward off the nightmares. Macon declines, but as he falls asleep, he decides to invite Muriel with him to the next city. As he goes to call her room in the morning, he throws his back out. 

Macon lies in bed for a while, pondering how he’ll manage his day trips. Muriel knocks at his door, but he remains silent and goes back to sleep. Later, a chambermaid enters his room. She helps him call Julian, but instead, Rose picks up, explaining that she’s working for Julian now. Macon tells her about his back and his day trips that he’ll need rescheduled, and Rose assures him she’ll take care of everything. Macon stays in bed the rest of the day, moving only to use the restroom and drink some wine. 

In the morning, Sarah arrives, informing Macon that Rose sent her. She’ll be helping Macon heal and taking over Macon’s day trips. Macon is surprised to see her and worries that she’ll find out he’s spent time with Muriel. Sarah runs into Muriel in the lobby and tells Macon. He explains that Muriel followed him on her own accord. Sarah gives Macon pain pills, which help his back a little but also impair him mentally. She proposes that they make the trip a second honeymoon, and Macon agrees. 

Sarah asks if Macon was drawn to Muriel because of Alexander. She has come around to the idea of having another child. Macon says it’s too late for them now. Sarah then asks why he didn’t make Muriel leave the plane, adding that he could have “taken steps” to stop her from joining him if he’d wanted to. After settling into bed, Macon realizes he’s never “taken steps” toward anything in his life. His marriage, Ethan, relationship with Muriel, and job have all “simply befallen him” (339). 

In the morning, Macon packs his belongings. He’s decided to go back to Muriel. Sarah wakes and asks him what he’s doing. He explains his decision. She tries to dissuade him, talking about their second honeymoon and how he and Muriel will be perceived as a couple. Macon understands that perception isn’t what matters. He and Muriel share a dynamic that works for them. He leaves Sarah to catch a cab, determined to catch his original flight home and find Muriel. Along the way, he abandons his suitcase because it hurts his back. Once he’s in the cab, it loops around to go the opposite way. As it passes his hotel, he spots Muriel waiting to hail a cab and asks the driver to stop for her.