Familiaris

Robert and Isabel Cullen live in Mellen in 1922 with their clever dog, Molly. A man—John—approaches them asking questions about Molly, and then a week later he comes to the Cullens’s house to ask more questions. He asks to take Molly to run a few intelligence tests on her, but the Cullens refuse. The next week Molly goes missing. A couple of days later they find her tied to the porch, and nine weeks after that, she gives birth.

John returns to the Cullens’s three weeks after Molly gives birth carrying a coffee cake as an apology for making them uncomfortable during his last visit. He learns of the puppies and offers them $8 to take one when they are ready to leave Molly. Mary and John return to inspect the puppies, and they settle on two, Brick and Tulip, offering another $10 for the second dog.

Later, Isabel finds the coffee cake dish, which John insists she keep. She takes it to a donation center, and the employee explains that one man has purchased the dish multiple times.

John goes to the Mellen Telephone office, briefly talking to his old boss, Frotz. He places a call to the Krenz family, whose dog, Dutch, recently passed. Afterward, he stops at the diner and talks with Gar. Gar hasn’t seen Claude, and he refuses to help find him. Gar complains that John is “impossible to satisfy” (590).

John goes to the veterinarian Page Papineau’s office and patches the phone line. Papineau says Claude came for the medicine. He also talks about how well Claude is doing working in the vet clinic. He thinks Claude will go to vet school, and he has been teaching Claude various things, including how to assist with surgery. When John leaves, he drives past Mary’s boarding house. He wants to discuss Claude, not having heard anything about Claude’s interest in becoming a vet. Instead, he goes home and calls Mary before bed, talking about his final call with the Krenzs and discussing Frank’s visit planned for the next day.

Gar goes to the Hollow, saddened by Ocky’s aged appearance. Ocky was still spry 18 months ago when Gar was discharged from the military. Three months after that, he and Claude found Forte and brought him home. Home seemed different after Gar was discharged, especially Claude who went from quiet and shy to confident and daring.

Gar works in construction. He is unwilling friends with another local who went to war, Jake Bellows, who was a machine gunner. Gar was sent to a special squad working with dogs, although he requested not to be sent. When he arrived, he took control of a misbehaving dog. Major Trave, a trainer, explained that only one in three people become good dog handlers. He quoted a line from Practical Agriculture and Free Will and was surprised when Gar knew the quote’s source. He pulled Gar aside at the end of his speech.

After work, Claude locks up the office then a man arrives with an injured dog. Claude pretends to call Papineau then gathers supplies and says he can help if they go someplace else. The man—Ev Minch—drives them to his house, where Claude has him hold the dog, Jonesy, so he can numb, clean, and stitch the jagged wound. Claude refuses to accept payment since he is not a qualified vet, but he accepts Ev’s secrecy and a ride back to town. Ev offers to have his friends, Cecil and Leonard, fix Claude’s Deluxe, which keeps breaking down.

The next weekend, Claude returns to Ev’s with his car and Forte, in whom Ev takes an interest. Ev asks if Claude would be interested in more clandestine veterinary work, and he advises Claude to get a medical supply bag put together. Cecil and Leonard get the Deluxe running better, but it has occasional electrical issues which make it shut off for a time.

While with his friends at a bar in Hurley, Claude sees Ev again. He has a vet kit ready, and Ev asks for his help. Claude gives his keys to his friends and leaves with Ev.

John wakes to Ocky staring at him, and when he goes downstairs, he sees Forte is missing and the screen by the door on the porch has been cut. While driving to town, John comes across Claude’s car parked in the weeds with a scratch in the paint running around the vehicle. He goes to see Mary, telling her about Forte, the car, and his conversation with Papineau.

Elbow has become known for his Tonewood furniture. A woman, Bertricia Festig, bequeathed her Tonewood table to the Museum of Modern Art because her children wouldn’t stop squabbling over it. John and Mary go to Elbow and Audie’s; Frank has arrived.

Claude works for Ev every Friday night. He checks over all the dogs entered to fight, and he helps patch up injured dogs. Ev starts the nights with a speech, while Leonard (Len) presides over the competitions, which include races, hanging for time, tug-of-war, and dog fights. Claude ensures the dogs are healthy, unmedicated, and not coated in any irritating or toxic substances. The latter is ruled out by having the owner then Claude run their hands over the dogs and then lick them.

Claude gets exhilarated while working on the injured dogs, which reminds him of ski jumping, in which he used to compete. He asks Papineau questions and continues to steal medical supplies from work. He has considered quitting working for Ev, especially after Gar turned up after one of the fights in June. Gar had overheard people talking about the fight, and Claude pretended that he had just gotten there to help a man who was bitten by his injured dog.

In August, a Sawtelle dog—Zeno—is brought to a fight. Claude disqualifies the dog, angering the owner and confusing Ev. Later, Ev talks to Claude, arguing that everything in life is a fight, so dog fighting is not corrupt. Ev says it prevents humans from fighting by providing an outlet for their aggression.

It is a Friday in September when Claude leaves for pinkeye medication and doesn’t return. As he is leaving Papineau’s, his car shuts off. Ev told him to come to his house if the car shut off again, so he heads there. After Ev fails to fix the problem, he draws Claude a map to an abandoned farm where that night’s fight is held. He is bringing Jonesy.

Claude leaves Forte in a kennel at Papineau’s and then can’t find his map, so he calls Ev to get the directions. He gets to the abandoned farm, helps set up, and starts examining dogs. Jonesy is set to fight Zeno. Claude wants to disqualify Zeno again, but Ev won’t let him. Claude tells Zeno’s owner that Zeno will likely die in the fight, but the owner is unconcerned.

The fight goes wrong. Zeno bites Jonesy but lets go when Jonesy settles. This continues until the dogs lay next to each other. When the owners go in, Zeno attacks Ev, and Jonesy attacks Zeno’s owner. The dogs are muzzled and taken to Claude. Claude works on Zeno’s injuries first, then switches to Jonesy but accidentally severs Jonesy’s carotid artery when the scalpel slips.

Frank is between cooking jobs but has developed a good reputation in Chicago. He, Elbow, and Audie come to the farm. Frank makes a drink he concocted and cooks dinner for everyone. He came to meet the yearling dogs after his last dog, Rhonda, passed. While eating, Elbow announces he wants to make boxes instead of tables—some kind of box that one person can put something in but anyone can take something out.

After eating, Frank meets the dogs, but John and Mary agree that none are a good match. Frank, Elbow, and Audie help John pull Claude’s car from the weeds and take it home. John finds the eye medicine and the map Ev drew, and he decides to follow the map.

Claude apologizes for his mistake and offers to pay Ev, but Ev insists on taking Forte. At first, Claude angrily agrees, but he changes his mind and drives away, stopping to get Forte from the kennel and then fleeing in the Deluxe. The car malfunctions, and Claude steers it into the weeds. He lets Forte out, commanding him to return home, then waits for Ev.

Ev drags Claude to his truck and forces him to look at Jonesy’s body, which gives Claude an idea to disguise and disfigure Jonesy. Claude tests the effects of chloral hydrate, a sedative, which delays his plan by a day as he deals with the after-effects of the medication.

Gar finds Claude in Gar’s apartment. They talk, and Gar shares that he wants to build a house on the farm property. Later, they discuss how they used to withdraw, or steal, dogs from bad owners, and then they steal Forte from the farm.

Afterward, they go to a bar, the Kettle, where they drink and play pool against two men, Pedarkis and Steve. Pedarkis gets upset by Claude and Gar feigning being novices. Gar and Pedarkis fight, and then Claude and Gar leave for the Hollow. Claude drugs Gar, who quickly becomes incoherent, then he takes Gar’s keys and puts Gar and Forte into Gar’s truck.

Ocky rides with John as they follow the map to the abandoned farm. John searches the abandoned farm, finding blood, rages, and ripped tickets with names written on them, including “Jones” and “Zeno.” As John is driving away, he passes Gar’s truck and then turns around to follow them to Ev’s house.

Mary asks Ida for help. At first, Ida is hesitant, but she has a conversation with Nyx, who convinces Ida to help. Ida invites Mary inside, they touch, and Ida gives a vague warning about what her help entails before saying they need to find a place with wood and people. They search several bars and restaurants before Ida senses something at the Hollow. She touches a man and then says she knows where Claude is.

Claude works to keep Gar conscious, pretending to ask him directions. He sees a Deluxe but assumes it isn’t his. However, it is John, and John follows his sons, stopping in a dark area and walking into the woods. Ocky charges, and John notices two women nearby.

At Ev’s, Claude pulls Gar from the truck, continuing to pretend like Gar is in charge. Claude gives Gar water, hands him a gun, and slaps his face. The gun goes off, and Claude moves away.

John joins the women, and they watch Ev take Forte and see Claude and Gar almost shoot Ev. Then, Claude shows Gar something that makes Gar drop to his knees. After getting Gar in the truck, Ev and Claude briefly fight, and then Claude gets in the truck and drives away. Ida will stay with Mary in the woods while John goes to town. Before leaving, John shows Mary the ticket stubs from the farm and the vet equipment in the Deluxe.

John drives into Mellen and goes to the telephone company office, sneaking past the sleeping overnight employee and into the switch room, where he taps his and Gar’s phone lines. As he waits for information, John ponders Claude’s situation, reflecting on his childhood and adolescence. Claude has always been different from others his age, seeming to lack typical empathy skills and behaving fearlessly. Claude calls Ev from Gar’s phone, and John listens to the conversation. Claude explains that almost shooting Ev was an accident, but Ev is furious and refuses to let Claude buy Forte back.

Gar wakes up with a bad hangover, and Claude asks what he remembers from the night before. Claude talks Gar through the night, and Gar believes he shot Forte.

Mary wakes a little after nine, and she and Ida watch Ev come outside with coffee and a cigarette. Ida says Forte is scared, and Ev gets a shovel to bury Jonesy. 

Mary and Ida confront Ev. As they talk, bees fly at Ev’s head, and Ida blames his pomade. She tells him to decide and then advises Mary to cover her head. At first, Ev thinks it’s a trick, but when he sees thousands of bees, he relinquishes Forte.

Ev covers his head with his shirt while Mary gets Forte from inside. To keep Forte safe, Mary uses her shirt to cover his head, leaving herself exposed, and she holds onto him. She yells for Ida to stop the bees, but Ida doesn’t seem to hear. Bees swarm Mary, and she begins to suffocate, feeling calmed by Forte’s presence before falling unconscious. She wakes to Ida scooping away the bees and yelling at someone Mary can’t see. The bees fly away, and their swarm takes the shape of a woman. Ida disappears, though her clothes remain behind. Before leaving, Mary makes Ev describe the dogs from the fight.

John leaves the telephone company office, and the Deluxe shuts off while he is driving. He lets Ocky out, but they rush back into the car as a huge swarm of bees passes. The bees depart, leaving a mess, and John sees a nude Ida walking down the road.

Claude finds the Deluxe outside Gar’s apartment. The ticket stubs, his money, and the map are in the trunk. Elbow drives by with Forte hanging out the window. After buying cigarettes and briefly returning to Gar’s, Claude gets in his car and leaves.

Mary checks on Popcorn Corners every day until Ida returns. When Ida comes back, Mary brings her to the farm. Ida visits the dogs, showers, noticing her hair is graying, and eats dinner. Afterward, she announces she is getting married and having a kid, saying she will meet her husband, Bennett, for the first time next week.

Harold Lester is home alone on Thanksgiving when John calls and asks him to stay on the line so he can fix the phone line. Harold’s dogs bark while he is on the phone. Later, he goes out to check on the dogs and finds Zeno is missing.