The Lincoln Highway

To distract Billy from anticipating Emmett’s arrival, Duchess enlists him in preparing the elaborate dinner that he has planned for them. Availing himself of the china, silver, linens, and crystal in Sarah’s collection, Duchess instructs Billy in helping him to set the table for a formal dinner. Having decided that only Fettuccine Mio Amore, the signature dish at Leonello’s, will do, the three had taken a trip to Arthur Avenue to obtain the essential, authentic ingredients for an accurate recreation. Before cooking dinner, Duchess brings Billy into Dennis’s office and has Billy write a list of all of the expenditures of Emmett’s envelope money that he has made since leaving Morgen, categorizing operational and personal expenses separately, reasoning that the reimbursement of the operational expenses should be drawn from the trust in total while his own personal expenses should be drawn only from Duchess’s personal cut of the total. After assembling the sauce recipe with Billy, teaching him the method as he had been taught by Leonello’s chef Lou throughout the process, Duchess leaves Billy to stir the pot of sauce while he goes to Dennis’s office to make a call. Though he has told Billy that Emmett will be arriving in time to dine with them, Duchess is aware that he had not given Emmett or anyone else at Ma Belle’s the address of Woolly’s sister and that in drugging him with Woolly’s medicine, he may have given him an overly generous dose. Duchess places a call to Ma Belle to see if Emmett is still there, and finding that he is not, Duchess begins to wonder how Emmett will find his way to Sarah’s house when the doorbell rings.

Emmett awoke that morning in Charity’s bed, disoriented and with a terrible headache. Charity had summoned Ma Belle, who makes excuses for Duchess. Ma Belle’s relationship with Duchess began when he was only eleven; while his father worked as the ringmaster for the circus, Duchess worked upstairs as a miniature host to the guests who frequented Ma Belle’s brothel. When Emmett realizes that Duchess had not left Sarah’s address with Ma Belle and that he doesn’t know Sarah’s married name and therefore cannot look up her listing in the phone book, Ma Belle’s social contacts prove to offer the solution. After asking about Woolly’s personal circumstances, Ma Belle deduces that Woolly’s family position would certainly have earned them a place in the social register. Her brothel once being popular among sophisticated, upper-class clientele, Ma Belle has a copy of The Social Register from several years before and is quickly able to determine the married names of both of Woolly’s sisters. Emmett finds himself at Kaitlin’s house first, and when she answers the door, her pleasant manner turns hostile when she demands to know who Emmett is, if he is with “that girl,” and why everyone wants to know where Woolly is. Emmett makes a hasty retreat to his waiting cab.

Emmett was furious with Duchess when he woke up at Ma Belle’s, stranded, his brother gone, and with no means of discovering his whereabouts. But as Emmett made his way through New York and New Jersey and back through New York again, he found his anger tempering, recalling Fitzy’s recollection of the theft of Marceline’s watch and the role that he and Harrison Hewett played in framing Duchess for its theft. Appreciating Duchess’s innocence relative to his own and that of their fellow inmates at Salina and the callousness of the betrayal Duchess’s father exacted against him, Emmett feels a tremendous sense of humility. When Duchess and an excited Billy answer the door, however, and Emmett finds Duchess grinning with self-satisfaction, his anger resurfaces, and he asks to speak with Duchess alone. Emmett is certain that Duchess is about to deliver a characteristic yarn of falsities, and Emmett grabs him by the shirt collar, raising his fist to strike him.

Ever uneasy when someone asks to speak privately with someone else, when Emmett asks to speak with Duchess alone, Woolly seizes the opportunity to invite Billy to come and see his former bedroom. Woolly brings out his cigar box and shows Billy his collection of objects, which he deems “the sorts of things one rarely uses, but that one should set safely aside so that one knows exactly where to find them when they’re suddenly in need” (454), consisting of a pair of his father’s cufflinks and shirt studs, French currency, and (the item of substance in this instance) a watch. Intentionally solid black for stealth purposes, it belonged to Woolly’s grandfather, who had served as an officer in the First World War. Explaining the origins of the watch and how it had come into his possession, Woolly gifts Billy the watch. Billy protests, saying “that such a watch was far too precious to be given away” (455), but Woolly insists that in fact it is too precious to keep. It is meant to be handed down, and one day Billy can hand it down himself. Woolly explains to Billy the trick of winding the watch exactly 14 times so it will keep precise time. No sooner has Billy secured the watch on his wrist than a loud report sounds from downstairs, and the two rush to see what has happened.

Duchess perceives Emmett’s anger and acknowledges in his narrative Emmett’s right to be upset with him. He is in agreement with Emmett’s decision to punch him when it appears that this is the course that Emmett will take, but Emmett pauses and releases Duchess, pushing him away from him instead. Duchess apologizes, listing his transgressions against Emmett, finally producing the envelope and the itemized list of money owed to Emmett. Though Duchess promises once more that Emmett’s envelope will be made whole after they secure the cash from the safe in the Adirondacks, Emmett reiterates his plan to leave for California directly once his car is ready. Since the car won’t be ready until Monday, Duchess reasons that by the time he and Woolly have gone to the Adirondacks, secured the cash, and paid a necessary visit to his father in Syracuse, they will only be a few days behind Emmett and Billy and will catch up. Before Emmett has the chance to counter him, they both hear the same loud bang overheard by Wooly and Billy, but from their vantage point it is clear to Emmett and Duchess that the explosion has come from the street.

When Emmett fails to call her at 2:30 pm on Friday as he promised, Sally resolves to ascertain his whereabouts and wellbeing for herself. Aware of the diligence with which the Catholic church keeps records of its members, Sally phones her contact at the local Catholic church, Father Colmore, and tells him she is looking for a member of a congregation in Manhattan. Referred to Reverend Hamilton Speers, Rector of St. Bartholomew’s, Sally finds herself claiming that a relative of the family of Woolly Martin has passed away, and she needs to contact them to inform them of his passing. Having obtained contact information for Woolly’s mother and both of his sisters, Sally finds Kaitlin less than forthcoming, and when she calls Sarah’s house, the phone rings indefinitely but is never answered.

Pausing only for a moment, Sally packs her belongings, leaves money on her father’s desk to pay for her long-distance calls, climbs into her pickup, Betty, and sets out for New York on her own. Crossing the distance in a day and a half, Sally takes the time to herself in her car to think, considering the notion that people are meant to move and migrate over the course of their lives. Figures from the Bible whose lives are characterized by the great journeys they have taken support her theory by her estimation, and it occurs to her “maybe the will to stay put stems not from a man’s virtues but from his vices” (463). Sally thinks perhaps God’s will is for people to seek out their own purposes and roles rather than remain comfortably in a safe place that suits them.

Woolly, Emmett, and Billy all come outside to greet Sally when she arrives at Sarah’s home in Hastings-on-Hudson. Emmett asks what she is doing there, and she reminds him that he failed to check in with her on the phone as he had committed to doing, and she also thinks he should be aware of the visit she was paid by Sheriff Petersen. As she is making her way to the house, Duchess appears and announces dinner. 

Woolly is filled with happiness at the arrivals of both Emmett and Sally and delighted to see Sarah’s table set up for dinner as if for a special occasion. Duchess serves a red wine he has chosen to pair with his offerings, which include stuffed artichokes and the famous Fettucine Mio Amore, sharing the story of Leonello’s as they enjoy its signature dish. After dinner, Duchess entertains them with a trick wherein he places a cork inside an empty wine bottle and removes it within ten seconds. Having mesmerized everyone, Duchess consents to teaching them how he accomplished the trick, giving them each an empty bottle of wine with which to practice. When Woolly, last to successfully replicate the trick, has finally managed to extract his cork, “Dennis” and Sarah suddenly enter the dining room, “Dennis” demanding to know what is going on. After an initial expression of anger that they poured out bottles of expensive wine to practice their trick, Sarah utters only “Oh, Woolly,” and “Dennis” insists on speaking with Woolly in private, in his office.

“Dennis” explains to Woolly that he and Sarah have returned early because Kaitlin called them at the home of their hosts for the evening. After the calls she had received from Sally and the visit from Emmett, Kaitlin had called, but Woolly hung up on her and left the phone off the hook, so Kaitlin found out where “Dennis” and Sarah were dining and informed them of the potential situation at their home. “Dennis” admonishes Woolly, claiming that Woolly has no appreciation for all his family has done for them and no respect for others, their property, or the relationships that he has with those around him. He reminds Woolly how he had been so privileged to have been admitted to three different private schools because of his family’s connections, only to have his most severe crime treated with leniency because he was presented as a minor and provided an excellent lawyer. “Dennis” informs Woolly that, once he completes his sentence at Salina, Woolly will not be applying to college as they had planned but instead, to teach Woolly how important an education truly is, he will spend a few years working for a friend of “Dennis” in order to develop some appreciation for his circumstances.

Emmett is filled with shame for having participated in the revelry with the others, knowing that they were making themselves comfortable and taking liberties with another man’s house and possessions. Emmett is reminded of the aftermath of Parker and Packer’s antics in the Pullman car, and he cannot help but recognize the comparisons between their actions and his. Attempting to atone for his behavior, Emmett sets about cleaning up in the kitchen. Dennis and Sarah had quickly recovered their composure, acting as benevolent hosts to everyone present by directing them to the places where they could sleep and everything they might need as their guests, instructing them to leave the mess for the housekeeper. Having put Billy to bed, Sarah joins Emmett in the kitchen and begins to dry the dishes Emmett has already washed, and he can sense her mutual embarrassment and guilt as they quietly continue the task together.