Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant

Cody has an accident at a factory he is inspecting. After two days in a coma, he wakes and then takes months to fully recover. Cody is bedridden, and the accident forever changes Ruth. When summer comes, Luke is bored. With Ruth spending more time by Cody’s bedside, Luke must fare for himself. Ruth tells Luke the story of how she met Cody, recounting how she nearly left Cody. Being confined to a bed makes Cody “mad as hell” (187). When he played baseball in the yard as a child, Luke remembers “adding a certain swagger to his walk […] more like his father” (188). After the accident, when Cody becomes more confrontational, Luke wonders whether he should become like his father.

Cody’s mood changes back and forth. He tries to work from his hospital bed, explaining that “time is [his] obsession” (190). When the family play Monopoly, Luke’s tone reminds Cody of Ezra. Cody says that “sometimes it’s more like you’re Ezra’s child, not mine” (191). This hurts Luke, who knows his father’s low opinion of Ezra. The next day, Luke finds a toy whistle and plays a tune. Cody accuses his son of tormenting him and then shouts at Ruth. He speculates that Ezra is really Luke’s father. Luke coldly ignores his family over the coming days. He tries to remember his brief encounter with his uncle and wonders whether his father’s accusation could be true.

The next day, Luke helps take his father to the doctor to have a walking cast fitted. Cody remains silent all day. Luke wanders around the unfamiliar town. He absentmindedly hitchhikes to Richmond, heading for Baltimore. The driver tells him stories and drops him off; a father and son pick him up soon after. The man is a recently-single English teacher, driving across the country and looking up his fellow female students that he “went out with” (200) in his school days. They drop Luke in Alexandria. Luke thumbs another lift. A tear-stained woman demands that he get into her car “this instant” (202). Though she is not headed to Baltimore, she agrees to take him anyway. She spends most days driving around the Beltway, helping forlorn hitchhikers. She does so to escape her “impossible daughter” (204); she is considering running away to get away from her ill-behaved daughter. They reach Baltimore, and Luke struggles to give an exact address. He asks to be dropped at the Homesick Restaurant. Suspicious, the woman makes him look it up in a phonebook and then insists on dropping him at the door.

He enters through the kitchen entrance, admiring the eclectic décor, and finds Ezra. Luke approaches and asks for a job; Ezra recognizes him. Ezra immediately worries about Cody, that “something’s happened to him” (209). Without Luke having to explain, Ezra understands what has happened. Later, Ezra calls Ruth to explain. Luke anxiously waits for his parents to collect him while Pearl fusses around the kitchen. Cody and Ruth arrive in the evening. Ruth was worried; Cody is angry. As the adults talk, Luke is surprised by how polite and pleasant they are. Soon, Cody announces that they must leave. Despite his injuries, Cody insists on driving. Ruth falls asleep, and Cody explains that some people find Pearl’s house to be “difficult to deal with” (217). Cody begins to talk about his fears of Ruth running back to Ezra, and Luke admonishes him for “hanging on to these things, year after year after year” (218). Cody tries to say something and then talks about time instead. Luke falls asleep.