Rules of the Road

Jenna is dumbfounded and sits frozen in the cab. She tells the taxi driver she was just fired, and he jokingly asks whether she made someone nervous. He adds that people only get nervous when they have something to hide. This comment clears Jenna’s mind and she asks the driver to take her back, and to drop her at the side door, which he does and tells her, “‘Those guys breathe the same oxygen as anybody else. Remember that’” (174).

Unfortunately, the door is locked, so Jenna summons all her courage and confidently walks up to the security guard, shows her ID and tells him she is late for a meeting. It works, and she races to the meeting, running into a grey-haired man who is also late and who opens the final door for her. Elden, who is up on the stage, sees Jenna and motions to his assistant, Mac, to remove her. When Mac tried to get close to Jenna, she hides behind the man who just let her in and quickly explains about being fired and that she has 50 shares and really wants to vote. The man protects her and tells Mac to back off, which he sullenly does.

Finally, Mrs. Gladstone takes the stage. She tells a story of a man who gives his son an endless supply of money to build a beautiful house, but the son squanders the money, taking shortcuts on the house and doing a shoddy job, not realizing that the house is to be his father’s gift to him, so the son ends up only hurting himself. She then announces that she is retiring and shares words spoken by her late husband: “‘If the time ever comes when you can no longer look the customer in the eye, then it is time to get out of the business’” (179). She promptly follows this with a pointed, “‘I am taking his advice. I am getting out now’” (179). The audience gasps, a few people clap, and then there is a flurry of people talking about how great the merger with Ken will be and the rising stock price. No one seems bothered that Mrs. Gladstone is stepping down. Without knowing what she is about to do, Jenna walks slowly up to the podium, pushes past Mac and Elden, and starts to speak into the microphone, opening with “֥‘I got fired today’” (180). Taking a deep breath Jenna tells the audience about her experience with Mrs. Gladstone on the road, describing how much she has learned about quality versus profitability. She turns to Ken Woldman and asks him whether it would ever be acceptable as a paper delivery person to deliver the wrong paper just because it’s cheaper. She tells the enrapt audience about her negative experience as a teenage customer in some of the Gladstone’s Shoe stores under new management and finally wraps up her speech by declaring she is going to use her 50 shares to vote and to write on her ballot to keep Mrs. Gladstone with the company. The man she ran into cheers and calls out, “‘I’m voting with you’” (183). It turns out that he is a large, independent stockholder and the man Harry went to see on the day he was killed. Despite many people turning to side with Jenna, the sale to Ken passes. As Elden and Ken are congratulating each other on the stage, the announcer states that “‘over four hundred voters have written in requesting that Madeline Gladstone stay with the new company’” (184). Over the applause and cheers, Ken says he would like to keep Madeline on the board and that she remain in complete charge of quality control. Elden is furious, but since everyone is watching, he manages a “half-smile” (184).

Alice stays in Dallas to visit friends, so Jenna and Mrs. Gladstone hug her goodbye and head home to Chicago. Jenna feels a rush of pride when she sees the Chicago skyline appear; she is ready to be home. Her mother and Faith are waiting for them, and her mother gets emotional when Mrs. Gladstone tells her that her daughter is “‘an extraordinary young woman. It has been an honor to be with her this summer’” (186).

Faith tells Jenna that Grandma is fine, and she visited every week. Faith becomes sad when she tells Jenna about their father and how he started calling her, drunk and obnoxious. She says to Jenna, “‘I never knew what you had to go through, Jenna. I never understood how you protected me’” (187).

Jenna’s mother has a new boyfriend, which Jenna is not thrilled about but understands that life moves on, so she is happy for her. Jenna walks to Opal’s house to catch up with her friend. On the way Jenna’s father suddenly pulls alongside her in a gray car. He motions for Jenna to get in, which she grudgingly does before she realizes he is drunk. Jenna asks him nicely to stop, but he carries on driving erratically, swerving and refusing to stop and says, “Whose gon stop me?’” (188).

Jenna screams at him that she is not going to be “road-kill” and grabs the wheel (188). He pushes her away, so she slams the car into neutral and pulls on the hand brake, bringing the car to a stop. A police car is parked nearby. With her new-found self-confidence, Jenna calls over to the policewoman, “This man is my father. He’s been driving drunk” (189). Her father is arrested and as Jenna watches she thinks of Harry Bender, “it could have been you who killed him, Dad! It could have been you!’” (189). She runs home and goes straight through the house and into the shower. As the water runs over her, Jenna thinks about her father. At that moment she hates him, remembering all the times she couldn’t have friends over because he was home drunk. Her mother waits for her outside the bathroom and asks what happened. Jenna does not cry. She tells her mother everything, and they sit together until her mother has to leave for work.

Jenna buys her first car, a second-hand red Chevy Cavalier, and Opal joins her at the dealership to celebrate. A few days after buying the car, Jenna picks her grandmother up from the nursing home and takes her on a picnic, which is something Jenna promised to do as soon as she got a car. They have a wonderful day, though it is tinged with sadness at all the things Grandma has forgotten. Jenna chats about their past together and her recent trip to Texas. Grandma listens quietly and occasionally interjects a few words. Jenna feels so much pain and sadness as she sees her grandmother’s decline, but she takes joy in her memories of their life together before Alzheimer’s took her.

Jenna waits for her father by a small duck pond at Lincoln Park Zoo. She hasn’t seen him since he was arrested for drunk driving and isn’t sure he’ll come, but he does. Jenna apologizes for making him lose his license, but she says she would do the same again to keep him safe. She starts to tell him about Harry Bender, but her father cuts her off and tells her that he was handling his drinking. Jenna decides to take Harry’s advice and really tell her father how she feels. Words come spilling out. She tells her father the memories of her childhood are shrouded in the smell of hard liquor. She tells him that she would curl up on his side of the bed after he left them and pretend he was still there and that she felt responsible for protecting Faith and her mother. Jenna’s anger rises and, shaking, she tells him she can no longer shoulder his drinking problem, that she changed, and he must too. “‘You need help, Dad! You’re an alcoholic. There’s help everywhere for what you’ve got. But you’ve got to want to get it’” (199). He hisses back “‘I know [….] how to handle my liquor’” (199). Jenna tells him that is a lie, and if he keeps drinking neither she nor Faith will see him or talk to him on the phone again. Her father gets up and walks away, turning once to look at Jenna for a long time. Jenna returns his gaze without the guilt or fear she would have felt before. She realizes that having an alcohol-addicted father makes her strong and makes her know “how to say no to the darkness” (200).

Jenna fishes out the plastic bag her father threw into the pond, leaving the bread for the ducks. She sits on a rock, watching the ducks and aching for her father but feeling “lighter and older” now that she understands that the way people deal with their problems rather than the problems themselves is what makes or breaks them. As she thinks this, a scared ducking pokes it’s head out from some bushes. Jenna throws the last piece of bread into the pond for him, and after hesitating the duckling dives in and gobbles it up. “Another true survivor” (201), Jenna thinks to herself, “Like me” (201).