53 pages 1 hour read

Back Roads

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1999

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Chapters 13-16

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary

Harley goes to his appointment with Betty and refuses to take off his father’s jacket even though it is hot. He is distracted by a pretty woman in the parking lot outside. Betty notices and asks him what he finds attractive in women. Harley grows uncomfortable and tries to change the subject. Harley asks how someone who is abused could love their abuser. Betty tells him that sometimes an abused person comes to rely on the abuse, but each time she tries to ask Harley how he felt about his father, he refuses to let her make it about him. He sees the word “me” floating in the air. Then he asks about people who are sexually abused. Betty asks if he’s talking about Misty, and this causes Harley to ask her what she knows about Misty. Betty denies knowing anything since she only treated Misty for a short time. Betty asks if Harley believes Amber was sexually abused by their father. Harley denies it, claiming his mother never allowed Amber to be alone with their father during the day. Betty asks about the nighttime, gently asking him to consider how Amber felt about the physical abuse. Harley has a flash of memory that causes him to have a panic attack. Betty urges him to calm down and talk about it, but he leaves.

Harley goes to Yee’s for Misty’s egg roll and buys himself General Tso’s chicken. Harley eats the chicken and throws the trash on the floor of his truck, noting the wedding photo of his parents. He wonders who his father was looking at in the photograph. Harley arrives home, but the girls are all still in school. He goes for a drive. When he returns, a strange truck is in the driveway. Jody tells Harley that Amber is leaving. Jody and Misty encourage Harley to hurt the boy waiting for Amber. When Amber comes out, Harley asks what she’s doing, and she claims that he’s done something wrong but won’t say what. After Amber leaves, Jody claims she left because Misty told her something about Harley. Harley assures Jody that Amber will come back.

Harley asks Jody if she knows any other secrets besides the money Misty stole from Bonnie. Jody admits she does. Harley asks about the sunflower shirt. Jody says that Misty was wearing it the day Bonnie shot their father. She says Misty hugged their father, which is why it’s bloody. Jody also claims that Bonnie drove Misty to the mall before returning to the house and burying the shirt. Bonnie then called the police. Harley points out that Misty went to the mall before their father was shot, but Jody insists Misty was there when their father was shot.

Chapter 14 Summary

Amber comes home on Saturday but claims she’s going to move in with Dylan, the boy from the couch. Harley asks again why she wants to leave, and she insists she doesn’t want to live with Harley anymore. Harley watches the way she moves and knows that Dylan hit her. He asks why she goes around with these boys, and she says it is because they want her. A while later, Jody comes outside with a beer for Harley. She says Amber had a bunch of beers in her suitcase. Brad Mercer arrives with Zack and Esme. He’s taking the kids, and Jody, to the miniature golf course. Harley feels odd speaking to Brad but finds him to be polite and gentle with the kids. Harley asks leading questions about Callie but doesn’t raise Brad’s suspicions.

Harley works sawing the pipe down to the ground. When he’s finished, he builds a pile of dirt around the pipe and covers it with the couch. Inside, Amber is in her room listening to loud music. Harley knocks on her door and says he’s leaving. Amber accuses him of going somewhere indecent. Misty asks Harley if she can get a tattoo. Harley refuses. Misty argues, but when it becomes clear Harley won’t relent, she shuts down. Harley heads to his truck. Amber comes to the door, her eyes red from crying. She claims she knows where he’s going, but Harley is sure she couldn’t know. Harley is going to see Bonnie. Betty arranged the meeting.

Chapter 15 Summary

Harley arrives in the waiting area and immediately notices all the little girls dressed up for their visits. Harley fantasizes about Callie as he waits. He draws the attention of two women who express concern over his appearance. Harley becomes fixated on a little girl named Jamie who is around Jody’s age and is wearing makeup and fake tattoos. Harley tells her makeup will get her in trouble and she should get on birth control. Jamie’s aunt yells at Harley, drawing the attention of the prison guards. One of the guards takes Harley out of the room and to the visiting area where Bonnie is already waiting.

Bonnie expresses concern for Harley’s appearance. Harley is annoyed by her concern. He tries to keep calm by asking her about the money Misty stole. Bonnie claims she thought Harley’s father took the money. Harley becomes angry and tells Bonnie that he’s “done.” He doesn’t want to take care of the kids anymore. He accuses Bonnie of wanting to be in prison. He says he doesn’t love his sisters and isn’t obligated to care for them. Bonnie calms him down and explains that she’d been planning to leave his father. Misty knew, and she was angry that Bonnie could consider taking Misty from her father. Bonnie says it felt as though Misty thought of her as the other woman. Harley asks what was going on between Misty and their father. Bonnie claims she never saw anything, and that she never asked because it was the kind of question people don’t ask.

Harley states that Misty killed their father. Bonnie doesn’t deny it. Harley asks why Bonnie took the blame when nothing would have happened to Misty because of her age. Bonnie tells Harley that his father wasn’t Misty’s target. She says that Misty was aiming at Bonnie and hit their father by accident. Harley imagines the scene, seeing Misty take the shot in his imagination and miss, hitting their father when he stood up unexpectedly. Harley begins to laugh, and the prison guard drags him out. Harley tells the guard his mother is innocent and that he’s going to get her out, but the guard isn’t interested.

Chapter 16 Summary

Harley searches for a place that will sell him a case of beer, finally finding one and drinking five cans before arriving at Uncle Mike’s house. Uncle Mike’s wife, Jan, reluctantly lets Harley into her clean and well-organized home. Jan takes Harley to the sunroom where there is a display of Mike Jr.’s trophies along with pictures of him playing football and preparing to go to prom. Harley makes rude comments about Mike Jr.’s many accomplishments. Jan offers to go find Uncle Mike. Harley asks to use the bathroom. He then takes a crocheted doll off the extra roll of toilet paper and ejaculates into it before replacing it.

Uncle Mike is waiting for Harley when he returns to the sunroom. Harley apologizes for the way he acted the last time Uncle Mike came to the house. Uncle Mike says it isn’t necessary. Aunt Jan tells Uncle Mike that Harley is drunk, but Harley denies it. Uncle Mike takes Harley to the garage, where he’s building a hope chest for Jan to keep her mother’s quilts in. They talk about Mike Jr., and Uncle Mike expresses concern over Mike Jr.’s future.

Harley asks Uncle Mike about Misty and his father. Uncle Mike says he didn’t think Misty’s relationship with her father was natural. Harley pushes him, telling him that he knows Uncle Mike encouraged Bonnie to leave Harley’s father. Uncle Mike tells Harley that he’s too drunk to have this conversation, but Harley is insistent. Uncle Mike admits he never saw anything, but he had suspicions. He also claims he’d been trying to get Bonnie to leave Harley’s father from the first time he saw him hit Harley. Jan comes out to see what is happening. Harley gets mad at her interruption. He asks to use the bathroom again and steals the crocheted doll. As he leaves, Uncle Mike gives him a bag of groceries and Jan gives him Bonnie’s Bible, claiming it was accidentally removed with Harley’s father’s belongings. Uncle Mike walks Harley to his truck, apologizing for not being as supportive as he could have been. However, he admits that things won’t change, claiming it isn’t personal.

Chapters 13-16 Analysis

The adults in Harley’s life continue to let him down in this section, which foregrounds the theme of Parental Abandonment. Bonnie’s confession that Misty killed Harley’s father while attempting to shoot Bonnie supports Harley’s belief that Bonnie went to prison to escape the family. The fact that Bonnie would go to prison based on her fear of Misty underscores Bonnie’s lack of support for her children throughout their childhood. Uncle Mike’s attention to Harley and the girls matches Bonnie’s reluctant support, especially when he admits that he knows he hasn’t been as supportive as he could be. Both these adults have let Harley down with their lack of empathy and support, and with their prioritization of their own needs over the needs of vulnerable children.

The subject of sexual abuse comes up for the first time in Harley’s conversation with Betty. The fact that Betty jumps quickly to Misty when Harley asks about it suggests that Betty suspected the possibility in the short time she treated Misty. Then Betty brings up Amber, implying that there is the possibility of abuse there, too—a suspicion that will be proven correct. This moment highlights the fact that none of the adults in the Altmyer children’s lives tried very hard to establish if sexual abuse was taking place. Both Bonnie and Uncle Mike claim to have been suspicious, but neither does anything about it. This is another version of abandonment and helps explain the sense of isolation Harley has felt from the beginning of the novel.

There are signs again of Harley’s deteriorating mental health. He has stopped bathing, he isn’t sleeping, and he refuses to remove the hunting jacket. The jacket has become a symbol of security for Harley, which is ironic because it belonged to his abusive father, but he wore it while hunting, the pastime Harley’s father criticized him for not enjoying. The jacket should remind him of his father’s emotional abuse, but instead he sees it as protection, indicating that he continues to struggle with accepting his father’s abuse.

Amber’s continuing anger at Harley is building to a confrontation and a revelation in the next and final section. Her accusations about where he is going combined with her behavior in earlier chapters suggest that Amber is jealous of Harley’s relationship with Callie. The way in which Amber responds to this information further supports the idea of an incestuous relationship between Amber and Harley.