Early Warning (60 page)

The phone rang again, right on time, ten minutes after the first ring. Arthur picked it up. As usual, he couldn't bring himself to speak. But it wasn't Debbie. A voice on the other end of the line (buzzy—long distance) said, “Is this Arthur Manning?”

Arthur coughed, then forced himself to say, “Yes.”

“Oh! Wow! I can't believe…Anyway, my name is Charlie Wickett. I hear you're trying to get in touch with me.”

Arthur said, “Actually, Mr. Wickett, I am doing my best to not get in touch with you, but I see that I've failed.”

Charlie laughed, and it was, indeed, Tim's laugh, full-throated but self-possessed, and Arthur burst into tears.

—

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER
, things had exploded as they always did. Debbie was both offended and dumbstruck, but she couldn't decide precisely which aspect surprised or offended her the most, there were so many. Frank was relieved, disappointed, and curious, ready to fly Arthur out to Aspen to meet the kid. Tina, somehow,
felt vindicated—he lived in Aspen, not so far from Sun Valley, where her studio was—something was significant about that. Dean seemed irritated by the whole thing, as if Tim were returning to the spotlight yet again. Frank said that Andy had said, “I'm sure he's not the only one.” Arthur focused on the question of how Charlie had found him. He did not expect to be found, ever, unless he presented himself. But when he asked Charlie a few days later, Charlie was forthcoming—Sister Otilia at the adoption agency was tight with his mom, though not officially, of course, and there had been gossip, and his mom had driven up to St. Charles and gone right to the Mother Superior and given her a talking-to, and so had found out who was doing the looking. His mom, of course, had always been perfectly straightforward with him, had told him early on that he was adopted, and if you were five foot two and your husband was five foot eight, and your child was six foot three, the neighbors had to be told, and so they were; as far as Charlie knew, his mom had never kept a secret in her life. Arthur said that the Mannings and the Langdons were a big family, and Charlie said, “You're kidding! Great! I always wanted a big family.”

After four days, Debbie settled on Tim's betrayal as the real crime—he'd known Fiona was her friend, what in the world had he been doing, so that was why, when she saw Fiona at Madison Square Garden that time—fourteen years ago—and told her Tim had died, Fiona had turned white, nearly fallen down, and not ridden again that evening. Debbie didn't blame Fiona.

“What do you care?” said Hugh, as her voice rose.

And then she set her fork on her plate and looked around the table. Carlie was staring at her, Kevin looked worried, and Hugh looked as though he'd had it. For once in her life, she said, “I don't know,” and then she shook her head at Arthur and put her face in her hands. After he and Hugh did the dishes (not a word spoken other than “I'll start the dishwasher in the morning”), Arthur went to the master bedroom and knocked on the door. She might have said something. He turned the knob and went in.

The master bedroom was a work of art—Hugh the historian had built the headboard out of spalted maple. His mother had knitted the bedspread, moss-green lace. The two bedside tables were etched glass, made by Tina. In one corner, there was an antique rocking chair
with a rattan seat. Debbie was sitting cross-legged on the floor, as if she didn't dare touch any of these beautiful things. Arthur sat in the rocking chair and eased it over toward her. Then he did what Lillian would have done: he started rocking and didn't say a word. Lillian always said, “If you don't ask them, they will tell you.”

Debbie didn't look at him, but she did say, “Do you remember when you were forty?”

“More or less,” said Arthur.

“Did you feel grown up?”

“Only reluctantly.”

“Everyone says that!”

“They do?” said Arthur, genuinely surprised.

“Something like it. Everyone wants to be young, everyone wants to be irresponsible.”

“Or maybe,” said Arthur, “not responsible.”

“I always wanted to grow up!”

“I understand that. Our household was chaos.”

“And everyone loved it but me! Are you sure I wasn't adopted?”

“I think you were a statistical outlier.”

Debbie said, “But I didn't grow up! I didn't! I just left certain feelings behind without realizing it, and they're always coming back.”

“I know,” said Arthur.

“Don't tell me that.”

“But I have to tell you that, sweetheart. I have to. Because that is my experience. Ask your uncle Frank; ask your aunt Andy. Ask her—she's had as much psychoanalysis as anyone; she would know.”

“She is a mess,” said Debbie.

“But a strangely prescient mess,” said Arthur.

“Why did you love Tim for being bad and hate me for being good?” She said this quietly, as if she were only asking, as if no resentment remained.

Arthur leaned forward, took her chin in his hand. He didn't know what to say, but he did want to look into her face. In spite of the fact that Arthur now experienced Debbie more or less as his jailer, he summoned up some appreciation: she was thorough, she was careful, she had premature wrinkles between her eyebrows from years of conscientious worry, and underneath it all, she had a phantomlike air of vulnerability-transformed-into-bravery that perhaps he had never
noticed before. He said, “You must know that you don't love children for being good or bad. I know you know that.”

“Why do you love them?”

“Because you do,” said Arthur. He paused, then said, “Because they don't know what's coming and maybe you do.”

“Doesn't that make them tragic figures?” asked Debbie. “I can't think that.”

“You do think that,” said Arthur, “because you—”

“Because I put them on the bus in the morning and take them off the bus in the afternoon, because I won't feed them sugar, because the house has been childproofed, because they wear helmets when they ride their bikes.”

“And so,” said Arthur, “we loved you because you made sure the gate to the swimming pool was latched, and we loved Tim because he jumped off the roof of the house into the deep end, and we loved Dean because he was daring enough to get that fourth foul in every game but careful enough not to get the fifth, and we loved Tina because she tie-dyed all the pillowcases when everyone was out one afternoon. Who you are shapes how you are loved.”

“You didn't love us equally.”

“We loved you individually. How could we not?”

“How could you not,” Debbie said.

After he got back to his apartment that evening, Arthur remembered how completely he'd thought he'd solved the problem of his own childhood once he'd claimed Lillian and enveloped her in his dream—no one idle, no one beset by solitude, everyone laughing. The problem he had not solved, or even known existed, was how quickly it passed, every joke, every embrace, every babyhood and childhood, every moment of thinking that he had things figured out for good, and also every moment, just like this one, when his spirits lifted though he hadn't seen the boy, knew next to nothing about him, had only heard his voice and his laugh and his enthusiasm.

An A.A Knopf Reading Group Guide

Early Warning
by Jane Smiley

The questions, discussion topics, and reading list that follow are intended to enhance your reading group's discussion of
Early Warning
, the captivating and emotionally engaging journey of the Langdons, a farm family from Iowa, through the mid-twentieth century.

Discussion Questions

  1.
Early Warning
is the second volume of The Last Hundred Years trilogy and builds upon the characters first introduced in volume one,
Some Luck
. Had you read
Some Luck
before starting this novel? If you did, how did you reorient yourself in the world of the Langdons? And if not, what was it like to meet the family for the first time here in 1953?

  2.  In
Early Warning
‘s first scene, the family is gathered for the funeral of Walter, who died at the end of
Some Luck
. How does this reunion establish the dynamics among the present family members as well as bridge the gap between the two books? How is Walter's presence felt throughout the scene and by each of his five children and his wife, Rosanna?

 3. How is the secrecy behind Frank and Arthur's relationship, personal and professional, conveyed throughout the novel? Do you think that either of them can ever fully know the other's true motives or responsibilities, given their personalities and the political climate of this time period? Why or why not?

  4. How does Smiley capture the tensions of the postwar era during the first half of the novel, politically and socially, in the United States and internationally?

  5. Why does Andy have such misgivings toward her children and role as a mother? Does this aspect of her character change during the course of the book as Janet, Michael, and Richie grow up?

 6. What are the different kinds of parenting portrayed in the book? How do parenting methods and attitudes change over time and between generations of mothers and fathers? What if anything struck you in particular about how this next generation of Langdons raises their children?

  7.  How does a farmer's sense of responsibility, impending doom, and preparedness get passed on from generation to generation among the farmers in this novel? Does being cautious and expectant of the “many things [that] could go wrong” on a farm help the land in Denby, and those who are tilling it, flourish (
this page
)?

  8. Describe the bond between Henry and Claire. Besides their proximity in age, what about this set of siblings' personalities and lifestyles makes them so close?

  9. How do Andy's therapy sessions reveal to the reader, and to her, certain parts of her past that she's kept hidden? What do the various doctors and techniques she tries say about psychiatry and its parallel practices during the 1950s, including in the context of the more liberal ideas of sex during that time period?

10. How do the secrets and burdens of Arthur's job manifest themselves in his decisions and relationship with his family, especially Lillian? In what ways does he embody the paranoia of the Cold War period? Are his fears even greater than the average American's during this time?

11. Despite Janet's antagonism toward her mother, what do she and Andy have in common? Do either of them acknowledge these overlaps in their dreams, fears, and ideas about motherhood? Do their attitudes toward one another change over the course of the novel?

12. What do we learn about Fiona in the scene where she rides her horse bareback? What is it that draws Debbie and Tim alike so strongly to her?

13. Are the twins, Richie and Michael, more enemies or accomplices? How does the trouble they get into from the time they're very young demonstrate their respective personalities and characters, as well as their complicated feelings for each other?

14. What do you think motivates Frank to betray his wife and hold himself at a distance from his family? What about Lydia Forêt makes her deserve being called the “love of his life”? What did you make of Andy's reaction to discovering Frank's infidelities?

15. What do you think the title of the book,
Early Warning
, means? How is it relevant to the events and general atmosphere of this novel and to what may be to come in the third volume of Smiley's trilogy?

16. How does Rosanna, the matriarch of the Langdon family, stay connected to her children as they grow up in a new age while also holding fast to her values from the more distant past? How do those past values conflict with various developments in politics and other social changes in her present?

17. ‌How does Smiley use Tim's brief time in Vietnam to lend specificity to the way the war was fought, from the setting to the interactions among the men to their understanding of their goals there? In what ways does Lillian's sense that “he would manifest again” after his death come true?

18. What are the differences between the military experiences of Tim, Michael, and Richie? How do these also compare with what you know from
Some Luck
, or heard retold in
Early Warning
, about Frank's and Walter's military service?

19. Describe the diaspora among the younger Langdons. What takes some of them away from Iowa and what makes others, like Joe and Jesse, stay? What events and emotions consistently bring them back together, and what does this say about the pull of home in general in a family?

20. What do Henry's romantic interests—from his cousin Rosa to Basil and Philip—reveal about his character and the times in which he came of age?

21. How does Smiley juxtapose the older, more traditional values of a previous generation of characters, those in
Some Luck
with the changing cultural climate of the '60s and '70s at the end of
Early Warning
? Which of the characters emerge as supporters of a more liberal point of view, and which are more conservative? Were you surprised by any of the characters' decisions or attitudes?

22. What true feelings does their trip to Paris arouse among the members of Frank's family? Does Janet's confrontation with Frank surprise you? Why might the level of trust and support among Frank, Andy, and Janet be especially complicated, even beyond the normal tensions among parents and children?

23. How does Janet embrace the revolutionary fervor of her time? What are some of the more personal reasons she has for joining certain protests and the Peoples Temple when she's young, and how does her rebelliousness change once she is a wife and mother herself?

24. How is Frank's buying out of the farm received by other members of the family, and why do you think he did this? Who do you think is the real inheritor of the farm? What might you guess is to come of the land based on this transaction and the kinds of crops, techniques, etc. being used by Jesse as he takes over from Joe, his father?

25. Why does Lillian keep the truth of her illness from her family for so long, and how have perceptions of cancer changed since she first discovered the lump in her breast? What does the tone of Lillian's funeral suggest about her place in the family and how they'll continue without her?

26. What is fitting about the way that Chance, Michael and Loretta's son, is born? Does it suggest anything to you about the twins might behave as fathers in the future?

27. Who is Charlie, and why do you think Smiley introduces him into the story the way she does? Were you able to figure out his identity while reading? What does his presence add to the sense of mystery and secrecy that pervades the story in other ways?

28. How does the conclusion of
Early Warning
both tie up narrative threads woven throughout the book and introduce new potential conflicts and through-lines for the Langdons in the final volume of the trilogy? What do you expect will come next, and how does this degree of expectation compare to what you felt upon finishing
Some Luck
?

Suggested Reading

Don DeLillo,
Underworld

Joseph Heller,
Catch-22

William Faulkner,
As I Lay Dying

Jonathan Franzen,
Freedom

Rachel Kushner,
The Flamethrowers

Tim O'Brien,
The Things They Carried

Marilynne Robinson,
Gilead; Home; Lila

J. Courtney Sullivan,
Maine

John Updike,
Rabbit
series

Meg Wolitzer,
The Interestings