The Guncle

On the flight from Connecticut to Palm Springs, Patrick acclimates to the kids’ incessant questions and their obsession with technology, realizing that witty, adult conversation doesn’t work on children. Suddenly, Grant screams—a loose tooth has fallen out. Patrick takes both kids into the bathroom and reassures Grant that “teeth do that” (49), but the tooth is missing, and Grant fears the tooth fairy won’t come without it. Patrick’s misplaced attempts at humor only make things worse; Maisie chastises him: “You’re supposed to comfort us. Don’t you know that?” (50). They want their mother, whose death now prompts new anxieties—what if something happens to their new caretaker, Patrick? He doesn’t have a good response to this fear but does his best to convince them that they are safe. The strategy works and the crisis is temporarily averted.

Their first night in Palm Springs, Grant wakes Patrick in the middle of the night by screaming that there’s a ghost in Patrick’s toilet. It turns out that the boy has never seen a toilet with an automatic lid. After acquainting them with the deluxe features of his Japanese bathroom, Patrick activates the retractable cleansing wand, spraying Grant—and then Maisie—in the face with water, creating a small bonding moment of fun before the kids go back to bed.