A Complicated Kindness

Ray always wears large glasses, which make him look a bit confused and as if as if he’s about to do some welding. Nomi always washes and folds his laundry, a chore she enjoys because she sometimes finds interesting things in his pockets. Today, Ray is sitting outside when she gets home. He tells Nomi he wants to have a talk about her future but doesn’t say anything else, so she pats his head and goes inside.

Nomi remembers that a few weeks after Trudie left home, Ray began to build a new garbage hutch—something that Trudie always wanted him to do—while she sat upstairs listening to Led Zeppelin. Both Nomi and Ray responded to their grief calmly, unlike Nomi’s grandmother, who broke down in public places after her husband died. One day, Ray set up the finished garbage hutch at the end of the driveway; he and Nomi waited for the garbage men to arrive and be amazed. However, they thought that the hutch was garbage and threw it into the truck while Ray and Nomi watched.

Lately Nomi has been experimenting with vegetarian meals, but she’s not a very good cook, so they don’t always work out well. When Ray looks skeptically at tonight’s dinner of vegetables and pear nectar, she responds defensively that she can’t cook meat. Ray says this is “A-OK,” which drives Nomi crazy; she knows he’s just using slang in order to sound laid-back for her. She wonders if Ray might have preferred to have a son.

Today Nomi has visited the hospital to see her friend Lids, who has a mysterious chronic illness. Lids asks about the outside world and Nomi tells her about the weather and her part-time job at the carwash, which she sees as preparation for the “rigid schedule of killing” at the slaughterhouse. Lydia also asks if Nomi and Travis have “done it yet.” Lydia is such a devout Mennonite that she once dressed up as “a brown paper package tied up with string, from The Sound of Music” for a Halloween party, while all the other girls “dressed up like […] hooker[s].” But she never judges Nomi; she always asks thoughtful questions about her life and listens to the answers.

Nomi offers to come her hair or moisturize her face, but Lids said it would hurt too much. A mean nurse comes in and says disapprovingly that Lids should be outside playing, clearly believing she’s not really sick. Nomi fantasizes about killing the nurse. On her way out, Lids gives her a poem she’s written about two girls playing.