Here in the Real World

Ware insists on going to ask permission to fill the moat with water, since they will be using a lot of water to do it. Jolene takes Ware to the bar and casually walks inside, but for Ware, it’s a first-time experience and very significant. He takes in all the sights, sounds, and smells of the bar, and is even served a ginger ale. Walter, the bar owner, tells the kids they can use as much water as they want, and even listens to Ware’s problems as he sips his drink and eats delicious bar nuts. Ware leaves the bar feeling a little older and talking a little deeper.

When Ware sees Jolene killing off the male plants because they don’t produce fruit, he thinks it’s unfair, and she again reminds him that he seems to live in “Magic Fairness Land” (193). Ware doesn’t see anything wrong with that, but Jolene insists that he needs to watch out for life as it’s coming for him, instead of always assuming nothing bad can happen. Ware takes this advice to heart and decides he wants to be reborn a realist.

It takes three days to fill the moat with water, and when it’s done, Ware films the results. He sits on the pews and admires the work, waiting for Jolene to arrive.

Jolene arrives, and she and Ware sit and admire their work. When storm clouds appear overhead, Ware leads Jolene to the same table as before, hoping it will once again help her open up. There, he asks Jolene how she knows that some people can’t be reborn through baptism, and suddenly realizes that she must have been referring to her own aunt. Jolene’s aunt drinks too much, fails to pay rent, and sometimes hits her. Jolene hopes that by selling papayas, she can cover the rent and stop worrying about whether or not she will have a place to live.

After Jolene leaves for the day, Ware takes the moment by himself to enter the moat and “baptize” himself. He asks to be reborn as a different person. When he comes out, he realizes he is still the same, except now he feels sad, because he knows the extent of Jolene’s problems.

Ashley turns up to say that her father is powerless to stop the auction, which causes internal panic in both Ware and Jolene. Ware has a promise to keep, and now he has to come up with another plan. A flock of ibises fly over and land amongst the papaya plants, and before Jolene can chase them away, Ashley explains that they’ll help with the pests. She points to the mosquitoes that are populating the moat, and adds that standing water is a breeding ground for them. Hearing this, Ware decides to dive in to get the water moving.

For the next few days, Ware spends most of his time thinking about what his plan B should be. He considers lying down in front of the bulldozers, but knows his parents wouldn’t want him to do that. Sometimes Ware wishes he had a younger sibling, because at least then his parents wouldn’t always be paying such close attention to him. He waits for an answer to his problem, which might just be the movie camera his uncle loaned him.

Birds of all kinds start to populate the moat, along with frogs, beetles, rabbits, and a turtle that Ware dubs Sir Wink. Ware films the progress as the lot teems with life, and the only unwelcome visitors are the raccoons that keep stealing Jolene’s compost. Ware comes up with a solution by caging the compost in such a way that the raccoons can’t get to it.

Ashley starts coming to the lot almost every day, bringing seeds for the birds and sprinkling cayenne pepper to keep the cats away. Ware likes having Ashley around, but Jolene judges her for being wealthy and thinks she doesn’t really care about the birds at all. Ware hopes that Jolene is wrong. He remembers that his grandma warned him against making assumptions about people.

Uncle Cy comes for a visit and watches some of Ware’s film footage. He notices that Ware likes to film the palm trees that surround the lot, and seems to use them as a mood enhancer. Ware didn’t realize he was doing this at all, but explains that the palm trees always seem to be reacting to whatever is going on at the lot, whether it be the news of the auction or the progress toward building the moat. Uncle Cy is now certain that Ware is an artist, and explains that he intuitively used the palm trees like a Greek chorus, the background commentators in a play. He tells Ware that making art is a calling, and one that artists tend to answer without always meaning to.

Ware has the chance to spend three days at home editing his footage, and manages to reduce 16 hours down to four minutes. Most of the footage was of Jolene’s hands, but he puts together a montage of growing papayas, birds, a wrecking ball, and more. Afterward, he adds a voice-over of his own, quoting Jolene when she described the candy wrapper. He explains that all things came from something else, and will one day become something else again.

Jolene accompanies Ware to the rehabilitation center, but Ware isn’t really sure he wants her there this time. On the way, she presses him about his plan to save the lot, but he wants to keep his plan a secret. Ware also takes the opportunity to defend himself against Jolene’s previous accusations that he lives in a fantasy world of fairness, because, as he puts it, he knows that bad things happen; he just wants to help make them better. Ware also points out that Jolene does this through her gardening, which makes Jolene turn silent for the rest of the ride.

Inside, Ware runs into Mrs. Sauer, the woman who pointed to him on the night of his grandma’s fall. He asks her why she doesn’t like him, and explains that he never knew it was his job to protect his grandmother. Mrs. Sauer answers that Ware’s grandma has diabetes and he should have known, but Ware explains that nobody ever told him. Mrs. Sauer considers that an injustice, believing Ware to be old enough to be told these things, and Ware finally feels validated by an adult in this regard.

Ware goes to his grandma’s room and sees Jolene is already there, sitting on the bed, sharing nuts with Big Deal. Big Deal gets the sense that Ware wants to talk to her alone and tells Jolene to go fetch her another blanket. Ware confesses that he found out about his grandma’s diabetes and wishes she had told her, but her look reveals that it was really his mother who asked his grandma not to mention it. She tries to assure Ware that she’s fine now, but Ware is no longer so sure if that’s true.

Ware confronts his mother about his grandma’s diabetes, explaining that if he had known, he would have avoided going to the pool when he saw she wasn’t feeling well. Ware bravely tells his mother, “If you keep overprotecting me, I’m not going to survive” (232), remembering what Jolene said about expecting to have life thrown at him. Ware asks his mother, who inspires him with her work as a social worker, to start teaching him how to fix problems instead of avoiding them. She answers that Ware can look at a piece of the problem that he is capable of fixing, and hopefully the rest will follow. Ware and his mother look at each other with a new understanding, and Ware’s mother apologizes to him for keeping his grandmother’s diabetes a secret.

Ware’s mother tells him that his grandma will be coming to stay with them for a while, which is great news until Ware learns that it means he will have to sleep on the porch without any windows. His mother thinks it will be fine, but Ware looks outside and notices the shed, wondering if it would make a better place for him.

Ware is talking to Jolene at the lot as she tends to some dandelions and wants to make her laugh, so he mentions a woman at the bar whose hair looked like a sunflower to him, adding that she seemed drunk. Jolene doesn’t laugh at all, instead balling her fists and walking away without saying anything.