The Burgess Boys

By April, the town of Shirley Falls has forgotten about Zach’s disappearance. Abdikarim is no longer angry at him. Seeing the fear in Zach when he testified made it clear to Abdikarim that Zach’s actions were not a hate crime. He meets often with Margaret Estaver, from whom he learns that the federal charges have been dropped. Though the violence in Mogadishu continues, some of the Somalis have returned there after growing frustrated with Shirley Falls.

Pam begins to have insomnia. Uncertain about her life, she considers nursing school but then reconsiders when a friend points out the field’s challenging aspects. She reads a book—recommended by a woman at the recent dinner party—about the Somali culture and is shocked by the way they regard female sexuality.

Pam calls Bob and tells him about the book, though Bob says that he has little time to talk. He has moved to a nicer apartment—one with a doorman—but has not told anyone. He often chats with his neighbors, an elderly couple. One day, he speaks to Jim on the phone, and Jim says that he knows about the move. Having noticed new curtains on the windows of Bob’s apartment, Jim hired a private investigator to track Bob down.

Susan shows Mrs. Drinkwater a photo of Zach at his father’s house in Sweden. Like Susan, Mrs. Drinkwater is shocked by how healthy and happy Zach looks. He has gained weight and likes his stepmother and her children. Mrs. Drinkwater offers to make dinner, and while she does, Susan thinks about all the yelling she once did at Steve and Jim. She realizes that she learned this behavior from her mother.

Helen and Jim visit their son, Larry, in Arizona. They head out one day in the late morning for a four-hour hike. When Helen complains that she feels faint, Jim insists that she should keep going. At the halfway point, they have to turn around. Helen vomits and nearly collapses from heat exhaustion.

The next night at dinner, Larry’s girlfriend presses Helen about forcing Larry to remain at summer camp as a child despite his homesickness. Helen and Jim are both uncertain about what attracts Larry to the girl.

Susan visits Bob in the city. She is anxious the entire time they sightsee. One day, in Bob’s new apartment, he brings up the accident, asking Susan what she remembers. She confesses that she often thinks she may have been the one to kill their father, as their mother always hated her. Bob assures her that she did not.

When they go to Jim and Helen’s house, Susan realizes how separated she feels from her brothers. Now that Zach is in Europe, she feels like she is connected to no one at all. The group of four sits outside in the garden, but Jim cannot sit still. Helen feels pressure to keep a conversation going but is annoyed at Susan for being so unkempt, inside and out. When the phone rings, Susan is startled and drops her wine glass: It is Charlie Tibbetts with news that new charges have been filed against Zach but that he is not being asked to return to the United States. Charlie is certain that the case will fizzle out and that nothing more will come of it. Helen points out that this likely means that Zach will never return to Susan.

Adriana Martic informs Alan, Jim’s law partner, that she plans to ask for $1 million in damages against Jim in what is insinuated to be a sexual harassment suit. Alan goes straight to Jim, who is vacationing with Helen in Montauk. Bob, too—typically invited to join Helen and Jim at their beach house each year—goes straight to Montauk, though he has not been able to reach Jim by phone. When Bob arrives, Jim tells him that he does not want him there.

Susan and Mrs. Drinkwater sit outside, talking. It is August, and Zach’s case has been completely dismissed, though Susan still cannot believe it. Zach is enjoying Sweden, even volunteering at the hospital there. She and Steve have spoken on the phone for the first time in ages—Susan apologized for her role in their marriage ending and shares with Mrs. Drinkwater that Steve had many nice things to say about Susan.

They discuss the Somalis, and Susan shares that when she visited Manhattan, she understood how the Somalis must feel—arriving in a place where everything is so strange and unfamiliar.

Alan asks Jim to leave the firm in order to prevent Adriana from filing the sexual harassment suit. For a month, Jim spends his time at the library. Helen is under the impression that he has finally decided to start his own firm, and she is excited about this. She finds one of Adriana’s hairs on his shirt but thinks nothing of it. When she asks their realtor about the office space that Jim has looked at for his new firm, the realtor is confused: She has not shown Jim any office space.

Jim is away in Atlanta giving a deposition and tells Helen that he will explain when he returns.

Abdikarim speaks with his niece: She and her husband are planning to leave Maine for Kenya. She does not want her children to become American. Abdikarim, too, has seen them growing Westernized. His niece, Haweeya, wants him to also come, but Abdikarim’s business has become successful, and he has grandsons in Nashville whom he does not want to leave.

Haweeya speaks with Margaret Estaver to explain why she is leaving. Margaret is sympathetic.

Jim reveals the affair and the settlement to Helen. When she asks him to explain what drove him to the affair, he speaks of the pressure he felt to care for his family and his certainty that he had failed at this. The next day, Helen asks him to leave, though a part of her does not truly want him to.

Bob thrives without Jim in his life. He stops drinking and socializes with the people in his building. At work, people increasingly come to him for help. One day, he runs into Pam, who has just finished a therapy session. Bob asks her if Jim’s insistence that she once came on to him is true. Pam says that it is not, stressing her great dislike of Jim. She grows increasingly angry as she speaks of Jim’s arrogance and his need for attention. Bob tells her to forget all of this, but Pam insists on calling Jim on the spot to confront him about this lie. She calls his office only to learn that he no longer works at the firm.

Bob immediately tries to reach Jim and then Helen by phone, but neither answers. He calls Larry, who explains what is going on. Bob goes to Jim and Helen’s home: Jim has moved out, and Helen has thrown out all his belongings. She explains that he is teaching at a college in upstate New York. Helen is angry and unwilling to consider Bob’s plea that she try to work things out with Jim. She informs Bob that the woman with whom Jim had the affair—Adriana —lived in Bob’s building; Bob even suggested that she look into a job at Jim’s firm. Bob tells Helen what Jim revealed to him about killing their father, explaining that Jim is full of fear and that this information should help Helen to better understand him. This only angers Helen further, and she asks Bob to leave.

Bob drives to Wilson College, where Jim is teaching. He finds him smoking a joint in his small apartment. He is a mess, and so is the apartment. Bob tries to convince Jim to quit the teaching job, but Jim only continues to claim that it was inevitable that he would fail so severely. Even Wally Packer, the famous client Jim helped acquit, is in new legal trouble and will likely end up in prison.

Bob receives a phone call: It is Susan, telling him that Zach is coming home. Bob says that he and Jim will be there to greet him.

Bob and Jim drive to Maine. They discuss Helen, and Jim admits that he feels anger toward her even though he really has no right to. They arrive at Susan’s as she is preparing a home-cooked dinner. She gives Jim towels and shaving supplies and sets him up to stay in Zach’s bedroom. Before dinner, Bob goes to meet Margaret Estaver. Abdikarim Ahmed is leaving as Bob arrives, and he asks how Zach is doing. Once Abdikarim has gone, Margaret tells Bob that he has been Zach’s biggest advocate.

Back at Susan’s house, Mrs. Drinkwater eavesdrops while the family prepares dinner. Both Bob and Susan agree that if Jim wants to be with Helen, he should try everything in his abilities to convince her to remain married.

The siblings go to the bus station to pick up Zach. While they wait, Bob tells Susan that Zach has Abdikarim Ahmed to thank for further charges not being filed against him: Abdikarim sympathized with Zach, and because he is a leader in the Somali community, his opinion carried weight. He also tells Susan about Jim’s confession that he caused their father’s death, admitting that they will likely never know the exact truth of what happened.

While Bob and Susan talk, Jim purchases a bus ticket back to New York City. Susan and Bob somehow sense that this is what he is doing and wish him well as he boards the bus.

Zach arrives, and the reunion is warm and happy. He talks eagerly all the way home, which is a welcome surprise for Bob and Susan. That night, Bob sleeps on Susan’s couch and keeps his phone on vibrate in case Jim calls, needing him, but Jim does not.