I Know This Much Is True

It is February, and the US has begun bombing Iraq. Dominick, on crutches as he recovers from his accident, drives to an appointment with Dr. Patel. He thinks about the beginning of the bombing—he had worried that Thomas would have an extreme reaction, but he was stoic (which, Dominick admits, is partially due to him being medicated).

Dominick recalls the first night he was alone after being released from the hospital after his fall. He decided to end his life by consuming a large quantity of his painkillers and some alcohol, but, in the end, he could not bring himself to do it. He called Leo instead, who went to Dominick’s home immediately.

Dominick’s grandfather’s memoir resumes: He recounts arriving in New York with his brothers and obtaining work at the American Woolen and Textile mill in Three Rivers, Connecticut. There, Domenico was partnered with a Wequonnoc man named Nappy Drinkwater, whom Domenico despised because he worked too slowly. When he asked to be assigned a new partner, his supervisors instead made him perform the two-person job alone. Domenico, determined to prove his superiority, learned to complete the job alone. He brags about a promotion that followed soon after.

The section of the memoir ends with tales of his youngest brother Vincenzo’s sexual escapades, which ultimately cost him his life when he was shot by a police officer and then died of an infection days later.

Dominick’s session with Dr. Patel begins—his first since October, before his fall. Dominick tries to evade many of her questions, but she persists. He tells her that he has skimmed some of the books she has suggested to him but that he has also been reading the Bible. He says that he identifies with Job for all of the suffering he endured as well as with Cain for the difficulty he had with his brother. He tells her about his grandfather’s manuscript and how much he dislikes the character that comes through on the page—grandiose, with an inflated ego. He then reveals his suicide attempt and Joy’s infidelity, playing the tape for Patel.

Patel suggests that Dominick is “curating” his pain to convince her how badly he has suffered. This angers Dominick as he mulls it over on his drive home. He tosses Joy’s cassette tape out of the car window.

Dominick’s grandfather’s memoir resumes: His brother Pasquale was fired from the textile factory but got a job as a roofer. Pasquale bought a monkey from a sailor and named it Fillippa. Pasquale and the monkey were inseparable, leading friends to joke that they must have been lovers. 

Meanwhile, Domenico bought a plot of land and made plans to build a duplex on it. He wrote to his cousins back in New York, inquiring any marriageable Sicilian women they might know. The cousins were preparing to sponsor the immigration of two sisters to the United States, so Domenico told them to prepare a dowry for the sisters—if he and Pasquale found the women suitable, they would marry them.

Pasquale, however, died while helping Domenico build the duplex—he fell through the open roof while attempting to rescue Fillippa from some attacking blue jays. Domenico later drowned Fillippa in a river, despite promising Pasquale that he would take care of her.

In therapy, Dominick reacts to his grandfather’s memoir: He despises the man but also identifies with the way he promised to care for his brothers. Dr. Patel stresses that there are many aspects of life that Dominick cannot control. Finally, Dominick admits to feeling conflicted where Thomas is concerned—he loves him, but at times, he wishes that Thomas did not exist. Dominick voices his fears that he, too, will one day be diagnosed with schizophrenia. Patel lists the fears that Dominick has expressed—fear of being mistaken for his brother, she suggests, is rooted in a fear of showing weakness and thus failing to uphold the toxic image of masculinity that Ray imposed on the twins.

She urges Dominick, as he leaves, to keep reading Domenico’s manuscript. As he drives home, Dominick thinks about the jealousy he feels over the special bond between his mother and Thomas.

Domenico’s memoir resumes. After Pasquale’s death, Domenico traveled to Brooklyn to claim the wife his cousins had arranged for him. However, he was angered to find the woman unattractive and much older than he presumed. The woman’s half-brothers offered her sister, Ignazia, to Domenico instead, and he was instantly taken with her. However, when they could not come to an agreement on the price of her dowry, Domenico had to return to Connecticut alone.

Back in Connecticut, he was still possessed by the desire to marry Ignazia, so he immediately returned to Brooklyn. He offered the brothers a reverse dowry: He would buy Ignazia from them for $500. The brothers forced Domenico to take Prosperine, her sister, with him too. Ignazia was unhappy and constantly crying because she had planned to marry a man of Irish descent.

Back in Connecticut, Ignazia quickly became pregnant. Domenico was at work one day when he was summoned by a neighbor who insisted that Ignazia was in labor and needed a doctor. Domenico was confused, as it seemed too early for the baby—whom a fortune teller had assured him was a boy—to be born. When Domenico arrived home, he discovered a stillborn infant boy with dark hair like his. Ignazia continued to labor, however, and delivered a red-haired girl with a harelip. Domenico was certain that the girl had been fathered by the Irishman and that the dead boy was his own son.

In the present, a storm causes the cable to go out, so Dominick feels that reading his grandfather’s memoir is his only option. He briefly looks through the newspaper, focusing on the story of the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles. He cannot shake his anger over his grandfather, however. He thinks of his grandmother, who died by drowning, wondering why his mother never took him and Thomas to visit her grave—so focused, instead, on Domenico. He turns back to the newspaper; there is a photo of Ralph Drinkwater in the article about the Wequonnoc tribe receiving approval to build a casino.

Dominick falls asleep and is awakened by a ringing telephone: It is Ralph, telling Dominick that he needs to have Thomas tested for HIV.

Domenico recounts Prosperine’s backstory, which she relayed to him. Prosperine grew up not in Sicily, as Domenico had been told, but in Pescara. Her father was a widower and the father of three daughters who had to help him in his macaroni shop. One day, Prosperine was sold to be the housekeeper of a local woman rumored to be a witch who could cure the evil eye.

On the day she moved to the woman’s house—named Ciccolina—Prosperine was accompanied by her best friend, Violetta. Ciccolina’s godson, an artist named Gallante Selvi, immediately fell in love with Violetta, and she served as his model, posing for a depiction of Saint Lucia he was making. However, after some time, Gallante fled to Turin, taking Violetta with him.

It was after this, Prosperine explained, that she first witnessed Ciccolina’s magic. A schoolmaster repeatedly purchased rabbits from her, despite insisting that they were not sold at a reasonable price. One day, frustrated with the schoolmaster’s complaints that he should receive two rabbits for the price he had just paid, Ciccolina set about butchering the rabbit: She cut it in half, and a second rabbit appeared. Both were given to the schoolmaster, who died that night of apoplexy.

Prosperine insisted that the “rabbit-like” harelipped daughter of Ignazia was a kind of omen from Ciccolina. She told Domenico that she had overheard the doctor forbidding Ignazia from having any more pregnancies and offered herself up to Domenico for sex in Ignazia’s stead. Ciccolina had taught her the magic of healing the evil eye before she died. Upon her death, Gallante returned with Violetta. When Prosperine saw that Gallante had repeatedly beaten Violetta, they made plans to murder him. They mixed glass from his art and lead from the paint he used into his meals. Gallante died a horrible death, though the doctor insisted that it was due to a burst appendix. The doctor, however, ate some of the food left over at Prosperine’s home, and he also became sick. Prosperine and Violetta fled Pescara and went into hiding. Eventually, they were able to secure false passports to the United States. 

After hearing this story, Domenico wanted to know Prosperine’s real name, but she refused to give it. He was certain, too, that Ignazia was actually Violetta, but Prosperine insisted that Violetta had died in Italy.

Dominick goes to Lisa Sheffer’s office, demanding that a blood test be conducted by outside doctors. It is only after Dominick threatens to expose the photos of the beatings by the Hatch guards that Sheffer’s superiors consent to the HIV testing. Dominick plans to bring Dr. Yup—the doctor who documented his beatings—to conduct the testing.

Before the day of the test, however, Sheffer asks to meet with Dominick away from Hatch or her office. She reveals to Dominick that rumors have emerged that nearly a quarter of Hatch’s residents are infected with HIV. She says, further, that news is about to come out about sexual abuse of some of the residents by Duane Taylor, a staff member who, along with a second guard named Edward Morrison, were running a kind of black-market drug ring at Hatch. Sheffer says that in light of this information coming to Hatch’s attention, they have just completed testing of Thomas in advance—he is HIV negative.

Dominick has Thomas tested by Dr. Yup as scheduled on Monday; he once again tests negative. Yup does, however, find evidence that Thomas has been molested. Thomas is questioned by the police as they begin their investigation of Taylor and Morrison. Ralph Drinkwater contacts Dominick again, explaining that he should leave his car unlocked the next time he goes to Hatch. Ralph places a piece of paper behind Dominick’s sun visor: It is a photocopy of a memo written by Dr. Hume (Sheffer’s supervisor’s superior) revealing his role in keeping the HIV statistic a secret. Dominick tries to find an attorney who will help him sue Hatch, but no one will take his case.

Dominick calls Leo, asking him to wear his Armani suit and pose as Dominick’s attorney for a meeting with Hume. He is finally able to secure the meeting, but Hume repeatedly reschedules or cancels. Finally, Dominick and Leo resort to following Hume in his car. They confront him with the memo, and Hume immediately agrees to release Thomas from Hatch.

Because the release is immediate, Lisa Sheffer has had no opportunity to prepare a new placement for Thomas. Settle is about to close, so Sheffer turns to another facility called Middletown. She advises against Thomas living with Dominick, but this is what he will do temporarily. As Thomas settles in that first night, Sheffer calls to say that his place at Middletown has been secured and that Hope House, the group home he formerly lived in, has agreed to house Thomas for a few days before he can move into Middletown.

On Thomas’s first night at Hope House, Dominick is awakened at 2:00 am by a phone call: Thomas is missing. Dominick and Ray arrive at Hope House, along with the police, at the same time. Dominick knows, however, that Thomas is dead. He and Ray search the cemetery near the river. After a short time, Thomas’s socks and shoes are found. Soon after, his body is found in the river.

Ray convinces Dominick to spend the night. Dominick has a dream in which he recalls Thomas contracting scarlet fever when they were four.