The Lincoln Highway

Left alone at Dennis and Sarah’s home while Woolly and Sarah are in the city, Duchess has located the key to Sarah’s silver hutch and admires her heirloom silver, noting the only difference between her pieces and the Watsons’ being the apparent frequent use of Sarah’s silver by comparison. Woolly had invited Duchess to come with them to New York, but a look from Sarah told Duchess that she would likely prefer time alone with her brother, so he had elected to remain back at the house. Since Sarah would be spending the weekend in the city with Dennis, it was arranged that Duchess would take the Cadillac and meet Woolly at the statue of Abraham Lincoln in Union Square.

While alone, Duchess explores their house, drinking their whiskey and playing their Frank Sinatra records. Wandering through Dennis’s office, Duchess finds no indication of Dennis’s apparent success in his role on Wall Street nor any photographs of Sarah, only evidence of his enjoyment of hunting and athletics. Walking through the kitchen and the pantry, Duchess peruses more of the inventory of their belongings. Going upstairs, Duchess finds Woolly’s old bedroom and the boxes Woolly left exposed when he went looking for his belongings. Duchess finds a Louisville Slugger baseball bat and marvels at the engineering of the bat and its suitability as a weapon for “dispensing justice” (368). Entering the master suite, Duchess opens their closets and begins helping himself to an ensemble from Dennis’s wardrobe. 

Emmett finds Townhouse on the stoop of his brownstone with his associates, receiving a warm welcome from his former bunkmate. Townhouse says he doesn’t know where Emmett might find Duchess, but he does tell Emmett that police have been by looking for him. Townhouse tells Emmett he had the impression that their interest in Duchess seemed more serious than a simple inquiry into the whereabouts of two escapees from juvenile detention. Townhouse takes Emmett to the Gonzalez family auto shop. Paco and Pico, twin sons of the owner, once ran a secret business renting cars in their father’s shop to their peers. Looking forward to a date with a girl named Clarise, Townhouse rented a car from them one Saturday night. Townhouse could not resist cruising with Clarise in the Buick Skylark convertible. The Buick’s owner happened to recognize their vehicle, and Townhouse was arrested. Not one to snitch on anyone else, Townhouse omitted any involvement by the Gonzalez twins in his statement to police, instead claiming he had snuck into the shop and stolen the keys off the wall.

Townhouse introduces Emmett to Paco and Pico, and the twins direct Emmett to the spot where they parked his Studebaker. Townhouse explains that Duchess left the car there. Without anger, Emmett accepts that it is impossible for him to predict or explain Duchess’s actions. Checking the trunk, Emmett discovers his bag and envelope are missing. Townhouse’s cousin Maurice appears at the garage, furious that Emmett appears to be taking possession of the car that “that nutjob” gave him. Townhouse dismisses Maurice. His memory jogged by Paco, Townhouse tells Emmett that a second round of questioning by police indicated that law enforcement is aware that the Studebaker is connected to trouble into which Duchess has gotten himself. Townhouse explains that the brothers will be painting the car for Emmett, so by Monday it will not resemble the vehicle used in whatever mischief Duchess has engaged in since stealing it from Emmett. Emmett again asks Townhouse if he knows anything about where Duchess is. Townhouse insists that the best possible course of action for Emmett is to stay as far away from Duchess as possible. Emmett explains that because he needs the money in that envelope, it’s impossible. Townhouse reveals that Duchess invited him to join him and Woolly at the Circus that evening.

At home with her father, Sally resents his lack of urgency, waiting impatiently as he takes his time finishing his lunch and getting on with his customary Friday afternoon errands. Each week he makes his rounds through the town of Morgen, culminating in a drink with friends at McCafferty’s tavern. In recent months, his habits had changed slightly, and one Friday Sally followed him into town and discovered that, instead of going to the tavern after his final errand, he turns in a different direction and ends up at the home of a young widow. For two months he made the visits to the young woman’s house, and Sally began to pray that he would ask her to marry him so she would finally be relieved of the duty of caring for him and assuming all of the responsibilities of caring for their house. When the relationship ended, her hopes for liberation from her role as caretaker were dashed. When he at last departs that afternoon, Sally waits patiently for the phone in his office to ring. When Emmett doesn’t call at the appointed time, she sets about cooking and cleaning the house in the interim, busying herself as she waits. When she accepts that Emmett is probably not going to call as he promised, she locates the phone number for a clergyman named Father Colmore.

With some regret at having brought his brother along, Emmett finally finds the circus. Among the crowd, they locate Woolly, who is delighted to see them. Leaving Billy in Woolly’s care, Emmett goes to find Duchess. Emmett finds a set of stairs leading to the backstage area for performers only, climbing to the top and emerging in a long hallway. Following the sounds of a piano being played behind one of the doors, Emmett finds an open lounge. Duchess is at the piano, in the company of three scantily clad women. Duchess seems delighted to see him, and the three young women flock around Emmett. Emmett pulls Duchess aside and reminds him that, contrary to what one of the women had stated, Emmett had not loaned his car to Duchess. Furthermore, Emmett states, the money that was in the trunk is also his. Emmett raises the additional issue of the Studebaker being mentioned in connection with the search for two young men in Harlem.

Spinning the narrative in his favor, Duchess omits the assault on Ackerly he committed in South Bend, minimizing the involvement of the car to Woolly nearly being ticketed. Duchess states that he has acquired another vehicle for Emmett, Woolly’s Cadillac convertible, and when Duchess finds out that Emmett has already gotten his Studebaker back, he is pleased, thinking that now they will all be able to drive together across their country in two cars. A fourth woman, Ma Belle, enters the room, interjecting into the conversation. Duchess begins to say his goodbyes, and the group coerces the two young men into sharing a drink with them before they depart. After taking a sip, Emmett begins to feel strange, and, as Duchess lags, Emmett escapes into the hallway to seek fresh air. Ma Belle emerges and forces Emmett into a room, locking him inside as he pounds on the door and demands to be let out. From behind him, he hears the voice of one of the girls asking why he is in such a hurry to leave. Attempting to coax him into an intimate exchange, she lures Emmett toward the bed, but the effects of the drug Duchess has slipped into his drink overpower him, and he loses consciousness. 

Leaving Emmett behind, Duchess drives Woolly’s Cadillac into downtown Manhattan, his only disappointment the fact that they had become responsible for Billy in Emmett’s incapacitation. As they approach the city, Duchess becomes increasingly irritated with Billy, who he perceives as a “know-it-all,” resenting the frequent corrections and answers for everything. Duchess asks Billy to confirm for him that the Empire State Building is the site of Processor Abernathe’s office. When he suggests that they pay him a visit, Woolly attempts to discourage this plan, but Duchess drives them right up to the front door of the building. They make their way systematically along the halls, checking for Professor Abernathe’s name on each door. Duchess observes with satisfaction as Billy becomes deflated as the number of remaining doors dwindles. Duchess takes pleasure in believing that he has dashed Billy’s hopes and taught him a lesson. Just as Duchess is basking in what he perceives to be his triumph, he realizes that Billy has in fact located the office. Duchess is disappointed, but reasons “[w]hen circumstances conspire to spoil your carefully laid plans with an unexpected reversal, the best thing you can do is take credit as quickly as possible” (406), feigning excitement for Billy.

When Billy asks the man they find seated behind the desk inside his name, he confirms that he is indeed Abacus Abernathe. Woolly introduces Billy as a visitor from Nebraska who is a devoted admirer of Professor Abernathe’s Compendium. The professor asks what Billy is doing in New York, and Billy tells the entire story. As they turn to leave, Billy asks Professor Abernathe whether he thinks heroes return. When Professor Abernathe asks why Billy has asked him this question, Billy relates the story of his experience stowing away on the train, his encounter with Pastor John, and his friendship with Ulysses. When Billy finishes his story, Professor Abernathe responds first with an assurance that heroes do return “in time,” but more important to Abernathe is whether Ulysses is still in New York and whether the three young men might be willing to bring Abernathe to meet him. 

Having never been inside the Empire State Building, Woolly might have otherwise been excited, but he is instead filled with a sense of dread because he senses the mean-spiritedness behind Duchess’s suggestion that they attempt to locate Professor Abernathe. Woolly had frequently experienced what he thinks of as “notions,” insights about the world that, when shared with others, were invariably dismissed. Woolly senses Duchess’s motivation through “the tone that Duchess was using on Billy—the one that preceded the dispelling of a notion” (417). Woolly was relieved when they discovered the Professor’s office.

Woolly is elated when Professor Abernathe joins them in their search for Ulysses, and Billy easily finds his way to the stairs leading up to the elevated abandoned track campsite. Woolly, Billy, Duchess, and Professor Abernathe sit around the campfire as Ulysses relates the story of his life to the assembled group. Ulysses explains that in the years since losing his wife and son “I have learned to live without hope,” but through his interactions with Billy and his experience of the story of Ulysses his mind has been changed. Professor Abernathe explains to Ulysses that he has lived his life largely vicariously through the lives of others he has pursued in his studies. Abernathe expresses his respect for the authentic experiences that have shaped Ulysses’s life and that he believes the life of Ulysses Dixon may in fact share a kinship with the life of the Great Ulysses. Abernathe believes that, while each individual person’s life is unique in the particulars that characterize it, the human experience is a collection of similarities and commonalities that are timeless and regularly repeated.

Abernathe explains to Ulysses that the Great Ulysses was only able to return to his family after he had committed an “act of tribute.” For Ulysses it had been to carry a ship’s oar inland until he was asked what it was. For Ulysses, Professor Abernathe suggests he carry a railroad spike to a place where railroads are so unfamiliar that someone asks what it is. Then, like the Great Ulysses, who planted the oar in the ground, Ulysses must hammer the spike into the ground in that place where the question is posed. Abernathe remains behind with Ulysses. Woolly drives Duchess and Billy back to his sister’s house. Reviewing the events of the day, Woolly is moved to tears by the realization that he has finally experienced a one-of-a-kind day.