THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST

CHAPTER 1

Macon and Sarah are driving back from the beach after they have cut short their week's vacation. Macon is wearing a formal summer suit, which he prefers over jeans when he drives. Sarah is in a strapless terry beach dress. Sarah has a tan but Macon is pale; he has the thin skin that burns easily. The two people look as if they have been on entirely different trips.It starts to rain heavily, and Macon refuses to alter his driving style, or pull off for a while. Sarah would prefer to sit under an overpass to wait out the storm but Macon is fixed on the road and is oblivious to her discomfort even though she is now gripping the dashboard. Sarah tells him that he is not a comfort and that all.

CHAPTER 2

Macon and Sarah have separated. Sarah has found an apartment, leaving him the house and all his bizarre little habits. Macon loves his systems and now that he has no one to criticize them, he delights in them. Most of them have to do with cleaning. The dishwasher, to his mind, is a huge waste of energy. In his system, he will add each dirty dish to the kitchen sink with some bleach and on alternate days, he will pull the plug and spray everything with very hot water.Macon does show some flexibility in scheduling when he switches from taking his showers in the mornings to the nights. While he is in there, he lets the tub fill with water in which he swishes around his dirty clothes. Then he hangs everything.

CHAPTER 3

When Sarah calls and wonders if she can come by the house and pick up the navy rug from the dining room, Macon's mind wanders to the two of them sipping sherry and talking about how much they miss each other. However, Sarah's schedule won't permit and she doesn't take him up on his offer to bring it over. Macon wanted to see her new apartment but she said it was not put together just yet. Actually, she is having trouble getting out of bed these days.Sarah wonders if the man who shot their son has any idea that he not only killed the people in that restaurant that night but many others as well. Sarah wants to go to the prison.

CHAPTER 4

Macon's boss, Julian, does not waste time calling him after his return from England. Macon is still asleep when the phone rings yet somehow he is able to negotiate another two weeks longer than Julian had requested to get his manuscript. Macon tells Julian that he will try to do better than that though and hangs up still in a fog. Instead of working on his book, Macon spends the next week or so organizing the household, room by room. Macon rearranges all the kitchen cupboards; he weeds and prunes in the yard, and stretches a clothesline across the basement so he wouldn't have to use the dryer. Then he disconnects the dryer's exhaust tube and teaches the cat to go in and out the windowpane where the tube had been.

CHAPTER 5

Macon's broken leg brings him back home to be cared for by his sister Rose. Macon's two brothers live there too; Charles has never married and Porter returned after his divorce. All the Leary kids are back together again in the house where they grew up. Macon thinks of his childhood and how they were raised by their grandparents after their mother left with one of her many boyfriends. Macon's mother had been widowed when their father was killed in the war and her life was a string of boyfriends, new apartments, new causes, hobbies, and whatever else she could throw in. Change was believed in as if it were a religion. Macon's mother considered her children very boring.

CHAPTER 6

Macon's typing is interrupted by the sound of someone yelling to call off his dog. When he looks out, Edward has backed someone into the big magnolia and is barking furiously. The unfortunate someone is Julian, who had tracked Macon down after going to his house and finding it empty. The neighbors told him where to find him and then it became clear that Macon was here during his recovery and that he wasn't at home because Sarah had left. Julian tells Macon that he is so sorry and even offers Macon an extension on his manuscript but Macon does not need it. Macon hands over the bulk of the remaining pages, Julian is satisfied, and said that the next series will be the major U.S. cities.

CHAPTER 7

When Muriel arrives for the first lesson, Edward leaps on her and she pokes his rear end down with a long, sharp index finger. Macon is told to watch, follow her lead, and he needs to cluck to let Edward know that he is doing something positive. While Edward stays sitting, Muriel launches into the story of her hair, how it was blond when she was younger and her mother had entered her into talent competitions but then her hair turned dark and everything changed. The sister who stayed blond was the favorite one and all the boys liked her too. Then she snaps her fingers over Edward's head and he jumps up and barks and Muriel praises him.

CHAPTER 8

Macon and Edward continue their training. Macon seems to think he is improving but his family isn't so sure and don't want to think about his leaving the dog with them when he resumes his traveling again. Macon wishes he could stay in his cast forever; in fact, he wishes it could cover him from head to toe so he could hide forever. One night Julian brings over papers about New York and is a bit disappointed when he realizes that he has missed dinner but settles for coffee instead. When Julian, Rose, Macon, and Charles are making small talk, the phone rings and Macon answers it. It is Sarah and she wants to meet him for dinner tomorrow night so they settle on the Old Bay, the restaurant Macon had been going to.

CHAPTER 9

Macon is remembering the day when Grandfather Leary's mind first began to wander. Out of the blue, he announced that he needed Macon to get his passport from the safe deposit box because he was sailing for Lassaque on June 12. Of course, there is no such country but the place his grandfather had invented in his mind sounded like a nice place to visit for sure. After that, he would sit for hours and dream up inventions like a motorcycle that would pull a plow and a plant that was a cross between basil and tomatoes. So he isn't really surprised when his grandfather comes to him in a dream and tells him that he has lost his center and Sarah is that center.

CHAPTER 10

Muriel is telling Macon about her early-married life. The baby was the reason she got married and the reason she got divorced. Muriel was pregnant when she and Norman were married, there were complications, he was born severely premature, and would have problems all his life. Norman couldn't take the medical bills and the fact that his son was not like any others so he left. Muriel and her son, Alexander, have squeezed out a life ever since. At one point as they are talking, she looks up at Macon, something catches in him, and he feels an overwhelming urge to make a connection so he bends and kisses her. It surprises both of them, maybe Macon a little bit more so. The Learys are facing a difficult decision and Thanksgiving is coming.

CHAPTER 11

Macon lifts the phone and tries to form an apology for not being able to come to dinner the next night but the words freeze in his mouth. It really has nothing to do with her personally but ever since Ethan died, he has no interest in much of anything, especially women. Since he isn't able to call, he writes a note and drives to her house to deliver it. Muriel thinks someone is trying to break in and threatens to blow his head off with a shotgun but quickly relents when he announces himself. Macon hands the note through the crack of the door. Muriel reads it, looks up at him, and then he breaks down telling her all about losing Ethan and how he and Sarah had broken apart.

CHAPTER 12

Rose is irritated with Macon, because he has been missing meals and sometimes doesn't even come home at night. Macon apologizes but realizes that he has been spending more and more evenings with Muriel and he doesn't care who knows it. Rose is soon to get a surprise though as Julian shows Macon the engagement ring he plans to give to her on Christmas. Rose is so unlike any of the other women he has ever known. Julian likes the idea of being part of family. Macon seems a bit leery of it but tells him it is a beautiful ring just the same. Macon isn't really sure what attracted him to Muriel. Muriel's youthfulness is unsettling - she barely remembers Vietnam and had no idea about the Kennedy assassination.

CHAPTER 13

Muriel's parents live in a subdivision with streets named for trees that are nowhere near there. The car makes a right onto Apple Blossom Way and pulls up in front of the Dugan household where they are greeted by Muriel's sister, Claire, a pretty 17-yr. old blonde. Mrs. Dugan greets Macon with skepticism and accepts his gift of cranberry liqueur. Mr. Dugan is preoccupied with the possibility of the pipes freezing in the basement and darts in and out of the day. Muriel shows Macon pictures from her childhood and he sees the progression of her silky blonde hair to the frazzled mane she has now. Mrs. Dugan finds it necessary to inform Macon of Muriel's progression of unsavory boyfriends since she was 13.

CHAPTER 14

Macon has pretty well moved into Muriel's house now. It happened bit by bit, a few shirts, shaving gear, until the final vestige of his life Edward. Muriel, Alexander, Edward, and Macon form an odd little family. Macon makes breakfast every morning and fixes things around the house. Alexander has a playmate and someone to welcome him home from school with cookies and milk probably for the first time in his life. One morning after a particularly heavy snowfall, Baltimore is silent and frozen and the little family is cocooned inside when Charles knocks at the door. Charles had a hard time finding the house but he needed to tell Macon that his neighbors called to say that apparently some pipes had frozen and burst in his house because they could see water running.

CHAPTER 15

When Macon left for a trip to San Francisco a few days ago, Baltimore was covered in ice, but now on his return it is like the beginning of spring. Macon arrives home, puts a few things in order, and decides to take Edward out for a walk. Before long he hears the shrill sound of children teasing and he realizes that their target is Alexander. Macon lets Edward go to his defense and when Macon reaches him, Alexander is visibly relieved and takes Macon's hand for the walk home. The next day Julian stops by with information for the next book, but Macon suspects that he just wants to get a look at his new life. He approves of Muriel and invites her and Alexander to his wedding to Rose.

CHAPTER 16

The day of Rose's wedding dawned to rainfall but it has cleared up sufficiently by mid afternoon so that the ceremony can still be held outside as she has always wanted. Macon, Muriel, and Alexander arrive at the house and are greeted by Macon's mother. It had never occurred to him that she would be there and is she ever! Macon's mother's hair is now a deep tomato red, she is wearing a flowing white caftan, and takes Muriel's arm to chat immediately. Macon is struck with the horrible thought that maybe after all this time he is attracted to women like his mother, but he then breathes a sigh of relief when he sees Muriel release herself from his mother's grasp. Macon also hadn't counted on seeing Sarah at the wedding.

CHAPTER 17

Muriel is telling Macon about a man she had dated before him. The man was a customer who was going through a really bad divorce and couldn't trust a woman. Bit by bit, she changed all that and eventually he had even paid all of Alexander's unpaid medical bills. The two had talked about getting married but one day he met a stewardess and eloped within the week. Muriel thought that she had cured him so he could elope with this other woman. Muriel then asks Macon if he would ever do that and he tells her that of course he wouldn't. When they are making the rounds of the thrift stores, she announces that she has quit her job at the Meow Bow. Macon cannot believe that she is so irresponsible.

CHAPTER 18

Macon is in a hotel room in Winnipeg when Sarah reaches him. Muriel tracked him down through his brothers who told her where he was. Macon's brothers also told her about the damage to their house, which is partly why she is calling. Muriel wants to move back in because her lease is up and she can't find another apartment. Muriel will use the money she would have spent on rent to make any repairs that the insurance wouldn't cover. Muriel also tells him that the legal papers are ready to be signed and that she had been shocked to actually see them. Muriel hadn't anticipated the emotional jolt they would give her.

CHAPTER 19

Macon and Sarah need a new couch since their furniture was destroyed in the water damage. The couple drives to the store, very efficiently chose one, and request same day delivery. Sarah suggests lunch at the Old Bay and they have wine with lunch, which was something Macon has never done. On the way home they stop at the bank so that he can get his passport out of the safe deposit box because his trip to Paris is coming up. The two then stop at the old house to pick up some azalea fertilizer from Rose. Rose is staying back at the house because the brothers' lives are a mess since she got married. Sarah goes off to her sculpture class and Macon sits down to write.

CHAPTER 20

Macon is settling into his seat for the trip from New York to Paris when his eyes look up and land on a completely unexpected sight. Muriel is going to Paris anyway. Muriel had borrowed the money, different people were taking turns watching Alexander, and she had gotten Macon's travel details from his travel agent. Macon can't even begin to imagine how bad this will look if Sarah were to find out. When he lands, he rushes through customs, grabs a cab and feels lucky to have evaded her when it occurs to him that the travel agent would surely have given Muriel his hotel information too. Macon also is concerned that she will get lost in Paris, that she wouldn't have converted her money, or any number of other tragedies.

THEME:

Death

Ethan's death triggers the novel's initial conflict. At first it leads to the dissolution of Sarah and Macon's marriage. The past year had been "miserable" for both of them, with "months when everything either of them said was wrong." When Sarah admits, "Now that Ethan's dead I sometimes wonder if there's any point to life," Macon responds, "It never seemed to me there was all that much point to begin with." This pessimism spurs Sarah's decision to leave Macon. She feels he is not grieving as much as she, nor is he providing her with the comfort she requires. Macon looks for someone to blame for Ethan's death, including Sarah and himself.

Order and Disorder

Ethan's death coupled with Sarah's departure throws Macon into a state of disorder that he desperately tries to change. He wants to start a whole new life not reallt knowing what he wants.