Freedom

Joey goes to the University of Virginia as a freshman, filled with optimism. One month later, terrorists attack the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. Joey spends the next month feeling inconvenienced and lonely, then develops an intense “personal resentment” (232) with regard to the attacks. Now that his plans to find a new girlfriend have been derailed as everyone fixates on 9/11, Joey tells Connie she can visit, even though they agreed not to see each other for nine months as a gauge of their feelings. Connie’s devotion to him is as strong as ever. When she arrives, they smoke marijuana, and he encourages her to go to college. She agrees, but only because it is what he wants. When she leaves, they agree not to talk for one week.

Over the next few weeks, Joey makes friends over the next few weeks with right-wing students. At night, he works at the Reserve Desk at the science library. Connie’s mother, Carol, calls him one night at work to tell him that he broke Connie’s heart. Shocked by how cold he is, Carol begins to understand why Patty had trouble with him. Then she says that Connie is depressed and pregnant, and that Joey has used them all. She demands that he visit at Thanksgiving. After their conversation, Joey calls Patty, and they have a trivial conversation. She agrees to send him a check but says that she will not tell Walter, since Joey values his financial independence. After the call, Joey sobs. He recalls Patty’s stories about Eliza, and about the rape.

Joey talks about his family with Jonathan, his roommate who is Jewish. They argue about Israel and terrorism. Jonathan is excited to learn that Joey is one-quarter Jewish, and he invites him to Thanksgiving at his family home. 

Joey calls Connie. She admits to being depressed but promises she is better now. She reminds him that it is okay if he sleeps with other girls, and then they have phone sex. He is torn about wanting to go back for Thanksgiving, but he also wants to go to Jonathan’s home. Regardless, he goes to Thanksgiving with Jonathan, hoping to meet his sister, Jenna, a beautiful college student. Joey has been taking pictures of her off of Jonathan’s computer without Jonathan’s knowledge. Jenna has a boyfriend named Nick who works in a high-powered finance job. Jonathan’s father is the president of a right-wing think tank and writes constantly about radical Islam.

Jenna is the most beautiful person Joey has ever seen. They plan a shopping trip to New York; he and Jonathan will tag along, and they will all stay at Nick’s apartment while he is traveling for work. While Jonathan’s father lectures about Islam, Palestine, and America at dinner, Joey challenges him on a couple of points about whether Iraq has nuclear weapons. Downstairs, Jonathan’s father challenges Jonathan and Joey to Cowboy Pool, and then invites Joey to apply for a job at his Institute. In the morning, Joey calls his aunt Abigail—Patty’s sister—to ask if they can meet in New York when he visits.

Jenna brings a friend named Bethany on the trip. Joey goes out alone that night and calls Connie. In the morning, he talks with Jenna, who seems to find him slightly charming. She says her family does not like Nick because he’s Catholic.

Four weeks later, Joey housesits for Abigail in Manhattan. He briefly recalls meeting Abigail a couple of weeks earlier; she had been self-centered and quirky. Soon, he is bored with housesitting. He calls Connie and says he will buy her a bus ticket to come stay with him. He is happy to see her, but she soon reveals some disturbing information. She has quit her job to visit him. Also, she told Patty she was coming to visit him, and Patty did not know he is staying in Abigail’s apartment. Connie wants to look at colleges closer to Joey. Finally, she tells him that she has a trust fund. After they have sex, Joey gets an email from Jenna, inviting him over to talk to Nick about Wall Street.

Walter and Lalitha drive through West Virginia. Walter hates every SUV he sees, but this is nothing new. He seems to be angrier every day. Lalitha wants to go out celebrating that night and is shocked that Walter has never had a drink of alcohol. They are celebrating because that afternoon, they took a big step on the Cerulean Mountain Trust deal. They finalized the mountaintop removal of 14,000 acres, which will then be used for the reserve afterwards.

Walter does not feel celebratory. Rather, he feels guilty about the destruction of so many hilltops. He had to buy out many families, and some of them were obstinate until the end. A man named Coyle Mathis was particularly hostile. Walter only met Mathis once prior to this. They wound up arguing, and Walter called him stupid. Mathis reminded Walter of his father as he kicked Walter and Lalitha off of his property. Lalitha was able to deescalate the situation, but only barely.

The idea that saved the deal involved an oil conglomerate called LBI, which had a contract to provide body armor for American troops in the Middle East. The Trust will facilitate a deal in which LBI will hire the people who gave up their homes and jobs and relocate them to another town. They plan to announce the deal at a press conference the following Monday.

It is growing increasingly difficult for Walter to stay in hotels with Lalitha. Before the trip, Patty told him he had permission to have sex with Lalitha. However, one of the reasons he will not sleep with Lalitha is because he does not want Patty to know that he thinks more highly of Lalitha than her. He worries that he will love Lalitha, which would force him to make a decision about how to proceed.

Walter and Lalitha go to a steakhouse. He drinks a beer and says he is not sure why Richard is helping them. Lalitha says Richard is primitive, and they get drunk.

In the bathroom, a man criticizes Walter for being with a dark-skinned woman. Back at the table, Lalitha says she does not want to be with her boyfriend anymore. She is drunk enough that Walter orders their meals to go. The racist confronts Walter again and then pushes him through the door, but they escape.

At the hotel, he puts Lalitha in bed and watches the news. He worries about overpopulation and thinks about how much he hates Catholicism. Hypocritically, then he starts thinking about having a baby with Lalitha. Jessica calls and tells him that she wants to become a writer and focus on environmental issues. She tells him about an older boss who ogles the younger women. He cries after he hangs up, not knowing what to do.

Walter receives reads an email from journalist Dan Caperville at the New York Times. Caperville somehow knows about the finalized deal with the coal miners. Walter calls Patty, who says she read a piece about the warbler that morning. Walter asks her for advice, but Patty says “pretty face” (324) could do a better job of reassuring him.

Walter recalls that the previous summer, he set up an online banking account since Patty was working less. He noticed that she was giving herself $500 in cash every month. She says some of it went to help with Joey’s summer rent. Walter was furious that “Mr. Independent” (236) was going behind his back after refusing Walter’s help. He also remembers an argument they had after Patty took a job at a local gym, which devolved into an argument about her wanting breast augmentation surgery.

In the morning, Lalitha reads the Times article before they drive to Forster Hollow, which is where the initial mining will begin. They kiss in the car, but Walter stops her from going further. He tells her that he thinks he might love her, and she says that is enough for now.

A high-profile environmental activist named Jocelyn Zorn is at the mining site. She has set up a roadblock between the activists’ cars and the bulldozers. She talked to Mathis and knows Walter’s plans. Lalitha makes Walter leave when he gets too angry. Then Joey calls and says he is in trouble.