American Rust: A Novel

In the dead of night, Isaac walks along the railroad tracks, past the abandoned mills, past Poe’s house, and leaves the town behind. As dawn approaches, the woods slowly come to life, and, despite momentary anxiety, he pushes on, relishing the challenge. He comes upon the machine shop and, after surveying the scene for law enforcement, walks into the field and retrieves his backpack. Two hours later, a train speeds by, but it’s too fast to hop on to. As he comes to a bend in the river, he encounters two young men tagging a retaining wall with spray paint. Isaac recognizes one from school (the other bears a white supremacist tattoo). When he tells them he’s leaving town, they promise not to say anything if asked. Strange bedfellows, he thinks, but allies all the same. He passes a barely functioning mill and a towboat station, then sleeps until dark. Refreshed, he walks until he comes to Fayette City. He looks for food, but all the stores are closed. He passes the Charleroi “lock channel” where his mother’s body was found two weeks after she waded into the river. A police cruiser drives by shining its spotlight, and Isaac hides in the bushes.

Hungry and dehydrated, he sips rainwater from an old bucket, and almost immediately, he empties his bowels. Exhausted, he finds an office in an old warehouse where he spreads out his sleeping bag and falls asleep. During the night, he hears voices and sees flashlight beams. Before he can hide, several teenagers burst into the office and discover him. One punches him in the face, and the others join in, beating and kicking him. When they realize he’s nearly their age, they stop kicking and tell him they thought he was “someone else.” They drive away. Numb and bleeding, Isaac finds a spot outside near the river to camp. After the shock and adrenaline wear off, he finally falls asleep.

Harris takes Poe into custody and locks him in a holding cell. Inside the drafty cell, Poe tries to tell himself this was unavoidable, but in truth, he knows his situation is a direct result of his choices. This has happened before: He’d gotten into a fight and beaten another boy so badly that he’d been arrested (although the other boy had threatened him with a bayonet). He senses his own downward spiral and fears the next time he will hurt someone he loves. He thinks about his father and grandfather—an opportunist and a poacher, respectively—and wonders if trouble is bred into his bloodline. He knows his only real talents are sports and physical work (car repair, gutting deer) and doubts college will ever be a realistic option. He regrets not taking the scholarship offer from Colgate College, but he also sees his troubled path as inevitable.

Having locked Poe in the “worst cell” in the jail—on purpose—Harris leaves for the night. Back at his log cabin, he admires the view, grateful for the peace and quiet but ambivalent about the isolation. He thinks disapprovingly about his brother, a computer programmer in Florida, and feels better about his life choices (despite his brother’s vastly greater income). He calls Grace Poe to discuss her son. She asks Harris what’s happening, but he tells her that Poe won’t talk. He suspects that Grace knows more than he does about the case, which annoys him. He advises her to get a lawyer and hangs up.

While he prepares dinner, he thinks about the state attorney general’s investigation into his friend on the town council—misuse of funds—and while Harris has never taken money illegally, he has bent enough rules to warrant an investigation of his own. Meanwhile, his department’s budget is being cut, requiring him to lay off three full-time officers. He sees this as a microcosm of the entire country—stable jobs slipping away, leading to social unrest and crime, problems the police aren’t equipped to deal with.

The next morning, the district attorney leaves a message notifying him of a possible witness in the murder case, but Harris doesn’t want to confront the issue at the moment, although he’s nearly out of patience for Poe’s behavior. As crime rates rise, he fears he may have to make an example of him. He contemplates retirement, but he worries that moving into a cabin at the top of a mountain was a mistake. His deputy, Steve Ho, comes in and reports having to shoot a dog the night before. He asks Harris if he should fill out paperwork on the incident, but Harris is noncommittal. While he and Ho have very different philosophies of law enforcement, he is grateful for Ho’s presence and doesn’t blame him for his heavy-handedness—his flak jacket, semi-automatic rifle, and confrontational attitude.

He brings Poe into his office for questioning, but Poe isn’t talking. Harris tells him that he needs to confess: A jury will think he’s guilty, and a confession is the only way Poe can plead the killing was self-defense. Otherwise, if it looks like first-degree murder, there will likely be clamor for the death penalty. After hearing this, Poe finally begins to tell his story but stops short of naming Isaac as the killer. Harris finally releases him with the suggestion that he get rid of his sneakers (they are evidence) and not try to flee.

Lee worries about Isaac, who’s been missing for two days now. She tries calling Poe, but his phone is disconnected. As she accompanies her father to a medical appointment, she marvels at the beauty of the Valley until they drive past the decrepit factories: “In the end it was rust. That was what defined this place” (132). Her father, Henry, claims Isaac will be back “soon enough,” but Lee fears he will never return. She doesn’t understand why her brother has remained in Buell so long. Despite her offers to help him with college, he’s never taken advantage of it. She’s never felt guilt about leaving Isaac alone to care for their father, despite their contentious relationship. She strives for a “balance” between not being overwhelmed by guilt but still feeling the appropriate regret. After running some errands, they return home.

That night, Poe comes looking for Isaac. When Lee tells him her brother’s been gone for nearly two days, he’s initially fearful and suggests they talk privately. They drive to a secluded spot near a lake, and Poe tells her that he and Isaac are in trouble involving the dead man. Although he denies responsibility, Lee shuts down, not wanting to get further involved. Poe then tells her the whole story. She considers paying for his lawyer but realizes that if Simon ever found out, her marriage would be over. She suddenly regrets the affair; she thinks it was the catalyst for Isaac leaving. Poe tells her about Isaac’s suicide attempt, and all the anger floods out, anger over Lee’s marriage and over her “dicking [him] around” (140). They go back to the car, make love, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of lawyers. Afterward, as Poe sleeps in the car, she calls Simon and warns him she may need money for a lawyer—for her brother.