This Is Where I Leave You

Judd dreams that his father is fixing his prosthetic leg, which falls away to show “[his] real leg again, hairless and pink, but whole and unharmed” (228). In the dream, his father smiles.

Judd sits on the roof in the early morning, contemplating how “love in real life [is] messy and corrupt and completely unreliable” (230). He likes Penny, but he still loves Jen. Wendy joins him on the roof and smokes. They watch Linda return to her house. Judd confronts Wendy about sleeping with Horry and she says every once in a while, she gets to visit an alternate universe where “Horry didn’t get his brains bashed in, and he and I are married” (232). Tracy swims laps in the pool.

Boner visits with some of Paul’s jock friends. Judd notices that they don’t talk about Paul’s injury, and he feels pity and tenderness for his brother. A high school friend of Judd’s visits, and Judd finds that his friend, once funny and pleasant, has become repulsive.