Joyland

The next day, Devin, Erin, and Tom take the Horror House ride. When they get off the ride, Tom is shaken. He saw the ghost of Linda Gray. She was holding out her hands as if asking for help.

Many years later, when Tom is dying of cancer, he will say to the older Devin that at least he knows there is something after death. He adds with horror that he just doesn’t know if it’s good or bad.

By August, Devin is back to lying awake nights thinking about Wendy and about Linda Gray. He goes to visit Madame Fortuna to ask her if she really did see the girl in the red hat or if it was just an informed guess. For an answer, she brings out a cash box. Inside is an envelope with Devin’s name written on it. She hands it to him. She tells him to do what he really came to the park to do that day and afterward to open the envelope.

Devin goes to see Mr. Easterbrook to ask the favor Mr. Easterbrook promised him. Devin wants to stay at the park and work through the winter rather than go back to school. Mr. Easterbrook readily agrees to keep Devin on to the winter. After the interview, Devin opens the envelope from Madame Fortuna. In it, she says that Devin is going to ask Mr. Easterbrook if he can stay on at the park, and Mr. Easterbrook will agree.

Looking back, older Devin says that his decision to stay was tangled up with other things, including Hallie Stanfield and Bradley Easterbrook’s speech about selling fun.

Tom and Erin are leaving to return to school. Tom’s final words to Devin are to stay out of the Horror House. Devin asked Erin if, when she gets back to school, she will do some research for him on Linda Gray’s murder.

In retrospect, the older Devin can’t remember if Annie and Mike were sitting on the boardwalk in front of the green Victorian the first day he walked along the beach alone. One day, he just realized they had been there for a while, part of the scenery.

He starts waving at the boy, and the boy waves back, while his little Jack Russell terrier watches. The boy is small and sickly-looking and sits in a wheelchair. The boy’s beautiful mother refuses to look up from the book she is reading and never acknowledges Devin.

Work at Joyland is easier but less interesting. The remaining crew begins the process of winterizing. Bradley Easterbrook departs for his condo in Sarasota. He never returns; he dies on New Year’s Day.

One morning, as Devin passes the green Victorian house, the boy’s dog trots down the beach to meet him. Devin squats and offers a bite of his croissant. The boy tells Devin the dog’s name is Milo. The mother reminds the boy, Mike, that he’s not supposed to talk to strangers. After that, Devin continues to wave every morning and evening, and Mike waves back while his mother remains cold and aloof.

Devin’s work at the park is now supervised by Eddie Parks, a grouchy old-timer. He sends Devin to wax the cars in the Horror House. As Eddie is fumbling in his pocket for a cigarette, Devin realizes that he has an odd habit of wearing gloves all the time.

Devin finds that even with the lights on, the Horror House retains its sinister mystique. He walks the track of the ride toward the place where Tom claims to have seen Linda Gray. He doesn’t see her, but he feels a cold, prickling feeling. He feels sure something is there.

That afternoon, Devin works with Lane on the Ferris wheel. He asks Lane why Eddie Parks always wears gloves. Lane laughs and gives his bowler its habitual tilt. Devin notices white or gray streaks in Lane’s hair that he could have sworn weren’t there at the beginning of the summer. Later, Devin will realize that the streaks aren’t gray or white; they are blond, and that’s what Mike is talking about when he says, “[I]t’s not white” (160). Lane tells Devin that Eddie has psoriasis. He wears the gloves so he won’t scratch his hands bloody.

In the evening, Devin passes Mike and his mother. Mike is trying to fly a kite, but his mother can’t get it airborne for him. Milo spots Devin and runs to him, barking. Devin members Madame Fortuna predicting that there would be a little boy with a dog. He offers to get the kite airborne. Stiffly, the mother tells him she has to take Mike inside for dinner, but Mike begs her to let Devin try. Finally, she gives in. Devin sees the printing on her T-shirt: “CAMP PERRY MATCH COMPETITION (PRONE) 1959” (150). Later, Devin will learn it refers to a rifle competition. She is a champion markswoman.

Devin helps launch the kite, and the three of them watch it fly for a while. When Mike’s mother says it’s time to go inside for dinner, Mike asks if Devin can join them. Devin sees that the mother isn’t comfortable with the idea, and declines the invitation. Seeming relieved, the mother introduces herself as Annie Ross. She invites Devin to join her and Mike in the morning for fruit smoothies. She is defrosting toward him, but she isn’t quite ready to have a strange man in her house.

Over smoothies the next morning, Mike tells Devin that he needs to know this: Mike has Duchenne muscular dystrophy; most kids with DMD don’t live past their early twenties, but Mike has just barely recovered from pneumonia, and it damaged his lungs and heart so badly his future is probably measured in months. He also tells Devin that the green Victorian belongs to his grandfather, Buddy Ross, a television evangelist. According to Ross, Mike’s DMD is God’s way of punishing Annie for getting pregnant.

There’s one more thing Mike almost forgot: “It’s not white” (160). Devin asks what he’s talking about, but Mike says he has no idea. He just woke up this morning and knew that he had to tell Devin.

Annie thanks Devin for helping with the kite; afterward, Mike has the best night’s sleep in months. It satisfies him in a way nothing else could—except going to the amusement park, but that’s out of the question. Devin suggests that he could arrange for the park to be opened just for Mike, but Annie freezes up and says absolutely not, and to not even think of suggesting it to Mike. Devin doesn’t understand, but he agrees to respect her wishes.

That weekend, Devin asks Mrs. Shoplaw about Annie and Mike. She is surprised that the “Ice Queen” actually spoke to Devin. She tells Devin that Annie is the daughter of Buddy Ross, a television evangelist. When Mike was born and found to have DMD, her father said publicly that her son’s “affliction” was her punishment for sin.