The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The strange death of Glen Papineau’s father is only two months in the past. As the town’s sheriff, Glen is determined to get to the bottom of what happened at the Sawtelle barn. He and Claude become drinking buddies. One night, as Glen drinks recklessly, Claude seeds suspicions in the sheriff’s mind. Maybe Edgar is more than a runaway, he implies. The sheriff was convinced that the boy ran away because of the relationship between his mother and his uncle, but Claude raises doubts. He tells the sheriff maybe he ought to investigate why the boy’s memory is so vague about the night of his father’s death, and why the boy ran away the same night as Dr. Papineau’s death. Claude points out that it has been two months since Edgar ran away, and that most runaways return home much sooner. Maybe, he insinuates, Edgar’s disappearance might be tied to the two deaths. As Glen continues to down beer after beer, he promises the spirit of his father that he will get to the bottom of the man’s death. He will find Edgar.

When Tinder heals, Edgar knows it is time to leave. The state patrol car reminds him he is on the run. Henry offers to drive Edgar and the dogs north to the commune. But as they approach the lakeside colony, Edgar notices purplish thunderheads coming across the lake. As the front moves across the lake, several waterspouts, translucent and kinetic “like puffs of steam” (444), drop down and skip along the water. Henry pulls off. Edgar is mesmerized as the windstorms approach the shore. When the storm reaches the shore, Edgar struggles to keep his dogs calm and safe.

The tornadoes clarify in Edgar’s mind how wrong it is for him to head to Canada. He knows now he needs to return home, clear his name, and most importantly get justice for his father. After the storm abates, Edgar tells Henry he is heading south back home. Henry volunteers to keep two of the dogs, and the third will go with Edgar. Henry also offers to drive Edgar, but Edgar declines, figuring as a runaway he will be safer using the woods along the roads for cover. Tearfully, Edgar says goodbye to his dogs and heads into the woods. 

After four days of walking and living off what he scavenges, Edgar senses he is nearing the farm. As he approaches his home, he sees Forte in the woods. The massive dog follows him for a while at a distance. Edgar thinks about Almondine and the approaching reunion with his dog, his mother, and the uncle he knows killed his father. He arrives at the fence line marking the boundary of the farm.

In the weeks just after Edgar disappeared, Almondine, beginning to feel her years, understands that Edgar is gone: “Now he was truly lost, gone away, crossed into another world, perhaps some land unknown to her from which he could not return” (460). Emotionally empty, she wanders about the farm, uncertain what to do or how to track Edgar. Confused, depressed, and feeling lost, one morning she wanders onto the red gravel road and is struck and killed by a passing motorist.

Although he has only been gone a few months, Edgar walks about the farm like a stranger. He stops in the kennel but finds only two of the pups from the litter of eight that whelped before he left. He wonders where Almondine is. The house is dark, and the truck is gone. Edgar leaves a note for his mother in the kitchen promising to return the next morning. He and the dog leave and fall asleep in the fields near the kennel until they hear the truck approaching. He discerns the “oblong of fresh, dark ground” (470) there in the field and understands that Almondine is dead. The rest of the night, he remembers the good times he had with his dog. With sunup, he heads to his home.

That same night, Trudy, after reading the note from her son, wrestles with sleep. Looking back, she now regrets sending away Edgar when she panicked after the incident with Dr. Papineau. She imagined Edgar’s return, and now that it is has happened, she is unsure how to feel. She never told Claude that she sent Edgar away. In the months since the incident, Trudy has allowed herself to grow closer to Claude. After recovering from pneumonia, she worked to keep the farm running with Claude. In Claude, Trudy found a “chance to anchor herself” (480). Although he lacks her husband’s organization and focus, Claude provides her with stability, direction, and the possibility of romance.

Hiding in the hay bales as he awaits the morning, Edgar is restless. Unable to sleep, he walks about the barn examining the stairs where Dr. Papineau died. He remembers his father’s words and tries to imagine where his uncle might have hidden the poison used to kill Gar. Using a flashlight, Edgar inspects the floorboards looking for any signs of a hiding place. He checks the room where the canine medicines are kept, but he sees nothing. As dawn breaks through the slats of the barn, Edgar hears his uncle’s raspy voice calling out for him. It is time, he understands, for confrontation.

After Claude plants the seeds of doubt in Glen’s mind concerning Edgar’s role in the deaths of both his father and Edgar’s father, Glen obsesses over finding Edgar. He imagines locating the boy, cornering him, and bringing him to the station for interrogation. Claude promises to let him know if and when the boy returns. “Whenever he dwelt on the idea of questioning Edgar again, [Glen’s] spirits lifted” (491). But he wonders how he could subdue the boy. The boy was, after all, young and given to run. Claude suggests using ether, a potent knock-out drug found in Prestone antifreeze. At Claude’s instruction, Glen will soak a rag and get the boy to breathe it, detaining Edgar easily.

When Claude calls to tell Glen that Edgar has returned, Glen swings into action. He quickly gathers up the Prestone and pours it into an empty whiskey bottle. Glen heads out to the Sawtelle farm, but he is unsure where the boy is. If he tries to check the barn, the dogs will “rais[e] Cain” (497). If the boy is in the fields, Glen will have little chance of finding him. Glen pulls over to ponder his next move.