Until They Bring The Streetcars Back

Thursday in study hall, Gretchen asks Cal if he’ll come by again on Saturday during lunch. Cal says that he will try, and Gretchen slips him a note, calling him a “nice boy.”

Football season is over, so basketball season starts, and Cal has a starring role on the team. After practice, Cal and his friends discuss their future. Jerry’s dad wants to move to Israel, but Jerry wants to join the Navy, and Cal says that he might join the Navy as well. Scott must attend the Virginia Military Institute. Tom’s dad wants him to focus on college and med school, prompting him to break up with Lola.

At dinner, Horace upbraids President Harry Truman, who’s giving a speech in St. Paul. Switching to the topic of streetcars, Horace complains about the transition from streetcars to buses. He believes the bus business is shady, and buses are “filthy.” He thinks the streetcars are beautiful and prides himself on how they are built in St. Paul. Like a ship captain, Horace keeps a daily log of his streetcar runs, and he memorizes the schedules of each line.

Lurine wants the rabbit gone, so Peggy and Cal bring it into the dark alley near their house. To frighten potential assailants, Peggy announces that they’ve called the police. All clear, Cal and Peggy put the rabbit near a hedge, and it scampers off.

Cal visits Gretchen on Saturday. Sometimes, Gretchen daydreams about going to a dance or seeing a movie with friends. Cal buys her loafers, but Gretchen can’t keep them: If Otto sees the shoes, he’ll beat her. Cal decides he will bring them to school, and she can store them in her locker with a pair of white socks. Gretchen accepts them, and Cal promises not to tell Gretchen’s secret that Otto “made” Helga have the baby, Little Jacob, meaning that Little Jacob was Otto’s biological child.

Lurine survived the Great Depression, so she doesn’t waste anything and often serves inedible “leftovers” for dinner, like pea soup and chicken gravy. As a married couple, the first meal Lurine made for Horace was leftovers. The next night, Horace took her to a restaurant, but Lurine told the server she wanted leftovers. Besides their differing opinions on food waste, they have other things in common. For example, Lurine and Horace adore the news radio broadcaster Cedric Adams.

At dinner, Peggy shows off a scraped knee. A boy pushed her down during recess, and the teacher didn’t punish him. Peggy didn’t do anything to the boy, and Cal wants to punch him. Horace tells Peggy to “spit on it.”

Cal’s teen club, Hi-Y, is putting on a dance, and he calls Lola to tell her about it, but when Lola answers, he hangs up. He tries to think, but thoughts of Lola and the sound of McCluskey’s dog thwart him. With a crowbar, Cal pries a hole in the fence, freeing the dog, but the dog returns to McCluskey.

During another dinner, Cal asks about parent-child abuse. Horace claims some children need “a whaling,” and Peggy knows a boy whose dad hits him. Lurine believes “really cruel” behavior violates the law. Horace says Cal would hypothetically tell the police if he encountered abuse like this. Lurine wants to tell the Humane Society about McCluskey’s dog, and Cal wishes there was a Human Society for children.

Gretchen wears the loafers at school, though they don’t match her hair or dress. In study hall, Cal still tells her they look nice, and Gretchen tells him she is no longer worried she will “go crazy,” referring to the hospitalization of her sister Helga and her fear of emotionally breaking.

Tom and Lola can’t go to the Hi-Y dance together, but they can still dance together if Tom goes with Lola’s best friend and Lola goes with Cal. Cal agrees to the setup.

The group is in the car on the way to the party. Steve’s brother is discussed in the narration. Steve had a brother who was born with a “bad heart.” They’d sleep in the same bed, and Steve could hear him cough and wheeze, but one morning, Steve woke up and his brother was dead.

At the dance, Lola saves a dance for Cal, and he gets “hard.” After the dance, Cal and his friends “destroy” banana splits, giving Cal gas. He doesn’t want to pass gas in front of Lola. After they drop her off and he walks her to her door, he frees the “zeppelin” in an empty lot.

In the alley, Cal runs into his sister, who typically leaves food, like a carrot, for the rabbit. McCluskey’s dog cries and the siblings go inside. In bed, Cal thinks about Lola and forgets to pray for Gretchen.

Putting up storm windows makes Cal late for Finley’s Market. After a stop at Prior Liquor, Cal drives to the bakery, but Gretchen isn’t there. Buehler says she’s sick. He also says that he approves of Cal’s visits. He thinks Otto is “too strict.” Cal hopes Gretchen is sick, and it’s not “something worse.”

At another party at a friend’s house, Sandy worries Steve doesn’t like her romantically. When Sandy was 12, Sandy’s parents told her she was adopted. Now, she’s vigilant about adults and children with her features. Because she works in the school office, Sandy says she can get a student’s address, and she agrees to get Gretchen’s address for Cal.

Steve talks to Cal about his little brother. Steve comments that perhaps God gave Steve polio to punish him for not hearing his brother and helping him. Though Steve was only eight when his brother died, his parents think he should’ve heard him and done something. Cal suggests that perhaps Steve’s brother didn’t make any noises.

The missing carrots stump Lurine, but Horace smiles at Peggy and blames the absent carrots on a “giant rat.” Home from the party, Cal checks on Peggy.

Due to Sandy, Cal knows Gretchen’s address: 1869 Goodrich—six blocks away from Cal’s building. The house has a garage and two floors. In the back, “heavy drapes” cover the first-floor windows and the dormer windows. The backyard features a big oak tree.

Gretchen isn’t at school on Tuesday, but she shows up on Wednesday with a bruise above her knee. Otto hit her with a cane and kept her out of school until the marks were less visible. Gretchen claims she might go “crazy,” and Cal promises to help her. He knows where she lives, but Gretchen doesn’t want him at her house.

Steve tricks the nurse into thinking he has a temperature and lets him go “home,” though he is really going downtown to get his dad’s car. Steve knows how to hotwire it. Cal can’t join Steve because Cal doesn’t want to get expelled from the basketball team. Cal is in a newspaper article about Central’s promising basketball team.

For the Turkey Trot dance, Cal goes on another “phony” date with Lola, and Finley lets him use the truck. Cal teaches Lola how to use the stick shift. At the dance, watching Tom dance with Lola, Cal feels like Tom is dancing with Cal’s girlfriend. After the dance, Cal takes Lola home and walks her to her door, and they kiss.

On Thanksgiving, Lurine brings up McCluskey’s dog. She says that she will call the Humane Society the following day. Horace maintains it’s none of their business—another person can help the dog.

For Thanksgiving, the Gants take the Selby-Lake line to Uncle Rudy’s house. Rudy’s son, Neal, stretched himself with a harness until he was tall enough to join the Navy and fight in World War II. Neal died when a Japanese Kamikaze pilot crashed into his ship. Lurine thought Neal “tempted fate.” Cal reflects that maybe he tempts fate with Gretchen.

On Saturday, Otto drives his black Plymouth to the bakery and speaks to Gretchen like he’s giving her “commands.” Otto looks “normal” to Cal, but he also looks like he hasn’t smiled in 100 years. As Cal drives by Otto, he feels “danger.”

The school counselor is Mr. Rogers—the “klutzy” history teacher who helped coach Cal’s sophomore basketball team. Cal talks to him about a parent who abuses their kid. Cal says if the cops find out and don’t protect the kid, the dad will kill her. Rogers isn’t sure what the cops would do: They might just give the parent a warning.

In study hall, Cal advises Gretchen to tell on Otto. However, she reminds him that that is what Helga did, and Otto “fixed her,” getting rid of her by sending her away. She says that he’ll “fix” her too, so she can’t tell. Gretchen hopes Cal will visit her on Saturday. She doesn’t know how many more Saturdays she can tolerate, implying she is considering death by suicide.

Cal stops by on Saturday, but Gretchen is inside. Otto has already been there twice, and she doesn’t want Otto to come and spot Cal. Still, Gretchen believes Cal should see what Otto does to her. Cal doesn’t know how he’ll see it, but then he recalls the oak tree in her yard.

The Gants walk home from church on Sunday. Horace wants his family to get used to walking. When the buses replace the streetcars, he doesn’t want his family to take them. Secretly, Cal vows to ride the buses.

Central wins their first basketball game, and the next day, Jerry and a girl make out in a car while Lola tells Cal about her dad. Her mom doesn’t let her see or talk to him, but he calls on Saturdays when her mom works. He’s coming for Christmas, and she reflects that maybe he’ll meet Tom and watch her cheer.

After another dance, Cal’s friend group is bored. They consider provoking the Runner before they settle on pulling trolleys. The trolleys have a rope that keeps them powered and on the cable. Pulling the rope is like unplugging a toaster—it stops working. Cal’s dad chases every person who pulls his trolley, viewing them as “Nazis.” Sandy and Lola fail to pull the rope, but another girl succeeds, and the conductor, not anticipating a girl, lets her go.

At home, Cal finds his dad in the kitchen drinking milk. Horace says the company is removing 80 cars right away and putting all the workers on probation. The change is “crooked,” and it involves GM (General Motors). Horace thinks the company will fire him in the summer. Horace likes driving a streetcar and had assumed he’d do it until he died. Cal wants to hug his dad and express his love. Instead, he wishes him a good night and goes to bed.