The Keeper of Stars

The next evening, Jack shares with Ellie his dream of someday being a novelist. She tells him that she thinks of writers as “sad and serious” (73). Jack thinks that his poverty and the deaths of his father and brother give him plenty of things to be sad about, but he does not say so to Ellie. He explains that he would love to make enough money writing to live in a house on the hill, take care of his mother’s needs, and spend his days fishing. Ellie tells him that he is smart enough to go to college and pursue a career like being a doctor if writing does not work out, but he points out that he cannot afford college. When she learns that Jack has never seen fireworks before, she invites him to come to Knoxville with her and Clara the following week to see some.

Recognizing that her son is falling in love, Helen asks Jack what will happen at the end of the summer. Jack is miserable while thinking about Ellie being back in college, with lots of young men pursuing her. The next day, he goes to see Ellie during his lunch break. Sara, having just finished a tutoring session, seems disappointed that Jack is there to see Ellie. Jack hears jealousy in her voice when they talk about Ellie’s fishing ability, and once he and Ellie are alone, he explains to Ellie that when he took Sara fishing the summer before, he realized that this gave Sara the wrong impression because she kissed him.

Jack invites Ellie to have dinner at his mother’s house. Ellie helps Helen in the kitchen, making a good impression. While they eat, Helen questions Ellie about her plans to be an astronomy professor, and Ellie explains that if all goes well, she will be done with her PhD program around the time she is 25. Jack is taken aback, realizing for the first time that he might not fit in with Ellie’s plans. When he is walking Ellie home, Ellie asks why he and his mother do not attend church. He explains that his mother stopped taking him after his father and brother died. He believes that Helen was angry at God. 

They talk about Jack’s belief that God gives people free will and that no one is helpless to determine their own fate. Ellie explains that she partially believes this too but that she also believes some people do have destinies—she believes that she is fated to be an astronomer, for example. Jack says that this is like his own belief that he is destined to have a house on the hill. Jack tells Ellie that he realizes she is the person he wants to spend his life with and that someday, he will propose to her. She promises him that no matter what different ways life sends them, they will come back to one another like mockingbirds.

On the day of the fireworks, Jack dons a new suit and cologne. When she and Clara pick Jack up, Ellie is impressed with how handsome he looks. At the fairgrounds, Jack goes to buy Clara some kettle corn, and when he returns, he sees a young man bothering Ellie. Jack tells the man to leave Ellie alone. He takes Ellie’s hand and leads her away. The young man follows, catcalling Ellie. Ellie urges Jack to ignore the other man, but the man swears at them, and Jack confronts him. The other man is much bigger than Jack, and Jack considers following Ellie’s advice and backing away, but when the man taunts Jack for being a coward and Jack sees fear in Ellie’s eyes, he feels that he has no choice but to fight. Their fight ends with the other man unconscious on the ground; Jack and Ellie quickly return to Clara. When they get back to Jack’s house that night, Jack apologizes to Ellie again, sorry that he let his temper get out of control. Ellie believes, however, that Jack was in the right because he was protecting her. “When we’re pushed beyond our limits,” she tells him, “fighting is the only option we have left” (88).

Clara makes herself and Ellie some tea and expresses her approval of Jack’s behavior, saying that the incident made her realize that Ellie and Jack are serious about one another. She tells her niece that Ellie and Jack remind her of herself and her late husband, Bill. Ellie expresses concern about how her parents would react to Jack because he is “nothing like the fellas back home” (91). Clara shares that her own parents forbade her from seeing Bill but that she married him anyway. She cautions Ellie that there is one important difference between her situation with Bill and Ellie’s situation with Jack: Ellie and Jack come from different worlds, and this is a significant obstacle. Clara worries that Jack will end up getting badly hurt when Ellie returns to school. Ellie protests that they can talk on the phone and write letters, but Clara asks her to think realistically about how long their relationship will survive this kind of separation. Even as Ellie says that she can come back the following summer and Jack can visit her in Ohio, she has a sinking feeling that no matter how strong her feelings are at the moment, they might not be enough to preserve the relationship.

Jack and Ellie go for a boat ride one evening, and Ellie asks Jack what he thinks will happen after she leaves Sims Chapel. He tells her how much he loves her and says that they can continue the relationship through letters and calls. She invites him to visit her at her school, and he is pleased but expresses concern that she will meet someone else whom she likes better than him. She tells him that the men at her college are in no way better than him; money and status do not matter to her as much as the way a man conducts himself and the respect his family has for him. “My word is my bond,” she tells him, “and I promise that no one will come between us” (95).

As fall approaches, Jack knows that soon the weather will turn and his summer work will end; he will have to go to work in the mill. Ellie asks whether he will come to see her in Indiana, at her college, and he says that he has already checked into the cost of bus transportation and thinks he will be able to manage it. Jack gives Ellie a bottle filled with sand and pebbles from the shore so that she will always have a piece of it with her. The two decide to do a little night fishing. Ellie catches another bass, and she enthuses about how much she enjoys the natural world around Sims Chapel. 

She asks Jack whether he would ever consider leaving Sims Chapel, and he says that it would take a very good reason to make him leave. She asks what he thinks about moving to Indiana and getting a job there so that they could be together during the school year. He likes the idea but is unwilling to leave his mother and George because they depend on him. He asks if she would consider transferring to a college closer to Sims Chapel, but she says that this is more complicated than he realizes. A week before Ellie is due to leave, the two go out on the boat stargazing. When Jack asks what special thing she would like to do before she leaves, she says that she would like to go back to Parrott Island one last time.

Jack and Ellie head for Parrott island; Ellie sees lightning and worries that a storm is coming, but Jack explains that it is merely heat lightning. After they land, they enjoy a picnic and a fire on the beach. Ellie asks whether Jack has ever been in love before, and he says no. She tells him about Daniel, a boy she was once very close to, but she assures him that her feelings for Jack are stronger. Jack is confused about the idea, wondering if it means that she could fall in love again, with someone other than Jack. He sees a shooting star and wishes on it that he and Ellie will be together forever. He tells Ellie that they should probably get back so that her aunt does not worry about her, but she pulls him on top of her and asks to stay just a while longer. The mood between them shifts, becoming overtly sexual, and Jack asks her whether she is sure that this is what she wants. They reaffirm their love for one another and then have sex. After Jack takes Ellie home, he lies awake thinking about the night. He realizes that his heart irrevocably belongs to Ellie now.

The next day, Jack decides that he should ask Ellie to marry him. He runs the idea by George, who tells him that he is not ready to be married. Jack does not believe marriage can be as difficult as George makes it sound, and it feels like the right way to keep Ellie in his life. Later, Jack borrows George’s truck and visits a jeweler in Knoxville, where he spends his entire life savings on an engagement ring. The next time he and Ellie are out on the water, he tells her that Sara came down to the docks that afternoon to ask if he and Ellie were a couple. He knows that his answer hurt Sara, but he did not want to lie to her. 

Jack asks Ellie out for the following evening, telling her that he has something special planned. When he returns home, he shows his mother the ring. She cries, remembering when his father proposed to her, and then she asks whether he is sure he is ready for such a big commitment. She explains that she worries that Ellie is too smart and ambitious for a place like Sims Chapel; Ellie comes from a different world and will expect a lifestyle that Jack might not be able to provide. Jack is crushed, thinking that his mother means that he is not good enough for Ellie, but Helen gently explains that all she means is that, sooner or later, the differences between Jack and Ellie will mean that one or the other must make sacrifices

As Ellie waits for Jack to arrive for their special date, Clara tells her how much she has enjoyed the visit and says that if she had had a daughter, she would want her to be just like Ellie. Ellie is touched and tells Clara that she has fallen in love with Sims Chapel. She asks whether she can return for the next summer, and Clara says yes, provided that it is okay with Ellie’s mother. When there is a knock at the door, Ellie and Clara are surprised to find that it is not Jack but Ellie’s mother, Marie. She announces that she has come to get Ellie and that the two of them will be spending the weekend in Nashville before returning to Ohio. Ellie protests that she has plans for the evening, but her mother insists that she go pack. Ellie writes a note apologizing to Jack and explaining that she believes her mother has found out about them somehow. She tells him how much the summer has meant to her and promises to contact him as soon as she can. Fighting back tears, she slips the letter for Jack into Clara’s hand before her mother drives her away from Sims Chapel.