This Is Where I Leave You

In the morning, Judd sits on the roof of the house and contemplates the view. He sees Wendy walking back from the Callens’ house in boxer shorts and a T-shirt. He sees Linda leaving the Foxman house and returning to hers. Judd comes “to the lonely conclusion that the only thing you can ever really know about anyone is that you don’t know anything about them at all” (188). After his shower, when the lights go out again, Judd flips the switch and is electrocuted by the fuse box. He remembers being three, riding a toy bike, and getting hit in the face by an older child. His father lifted and soothed him, and in his father’s arms Judd felt safe, knowing “the little bastard can’t reach me up here” (189). Judd comes to on the basement floor to see his mother, and he tells her his father called him “bubbie.” They cry together.

Since it is the Jewish Sabbath, the family does not have to sit shiva, but Boner tells them to come to temple to recite the Kaddish, the ritual mourning prayer, for Mort. Judd borrows one of his dad’s suits. He recalls how their father would occasionally make them go to temple when they were children, even though Mort admitted he did not really believe in God.