Peace Like a River: Peeking at Eternity Summary & Analysis

Reuben explains that Davy would be very annoyed if Reuben tried to cast what happened in a "redemptive glow." Reuben, Davy, Dad, and Swede wait for Ted Pullet, and Reuben babbles that Davy hadn't meant to do it. Davy snaps out of his reverie and tells Reuben that he certainly meant to do it.

Stepping out of the narrative, Reuben says that when Dad was 28 he was picked up by a tornado. Dad was still married to Mom and attending school in Iowa, on his way to becoming a doctor. Davy was one year old. Dad had a part-time job working as a janitor in the athletic building and was working when the tornado picked him up. Mom tried to call the athletic building, but the line was dead. An hour later, a group of men knocked on the door to tell Mom that the tornado hit the athletic building. The following morning, Mom answered the ringing phone. A woman informed her that Dad was on her porch drinking coffee.

After that event, Dad finished the semester, moved off campus, and found work as a plumber's assistant. Reuben says he can only explain this logic with Dad's own words that "he was treated so gently up there." Davy, however, is bothered by the fact that Dad wasn't hurt—he insists the event shouldn't have happened. Reuben tells the reader that he eventually realized that Davy wanted life to be something someone did alone, not with the help of a fatherly God. Mom was evidently bothered as well by what happened after the tornado. She stuck around long enough to give birth to Reuben and Swede, and then left to marry a doctor in Chicago.

Returning to the narrative, Reuben says the police put Davy in cuffs and took him to jail. The rest of the Lands spend the night in a motel and go to visit Davy the next day. At the end of their visit, Dad sends Reuben and Swede out so he can talk to Davy alone. Dad's quiet when he returns, and later that night tells Reuben and Swede that the only thing they can do is persevere.

Reporters and people the Lands don't know call on them regularly, while many people they do know ignore them. Reuben lists several of these people and assures the reader that he does mean to forgive them eventually, but not yet. He remarks that Dad seemed to suffer the most in the following weeks, not Davy. Davy seemed to remain the same, just thinner. On one visit, Reuben sees certainty in Davy's eyes, and knows that he can believe in his brother.

Davy begins receiving mail from a number of individuals who read about him in the local papers and found his story heroic and compelling. Walt Stockard, a deputy, begins collecting them in a pink box and reads them aloud to Davy.

Dad learns that Davy will be charged with two counts of manslaughter rather than murder, because Israel and Tommy had been bent on "mischief." Swede finds this incredulous. Thomas DeCuellar, Davy's defense attorney, begins to visit. Reuben says he knew that Mr. DeCuellar was a good man because he was on Davy's side and brought home-canned pickles from his wife for the Lands.

One morning, Swede refuses to come out of her room, declaring that she's working and doesn't want to be bothered. Dad is at work, but had given Swede and Reuben the option of staying out of school for another week. Reuben says he thinks that Dad didn't want them back in school yet, as Dad himself is experiencing backlash. Superintendent Chester Holgren had decided to "scour that janitor's teeth" and is making Dad deal with the school's overflowing sewer alone rather than call a plumber.

Mr. DeCuellar visits several times over the next week. Davy apparently resists all his attempts to paint Davy's actions in a kind light, insists that he wanted to shoot Tommy and Israel, and refuses to be too remorseful. As such, Mr. DeCuellar's attempt to have Davy tried as a juvenile doesn't pass. Reuben says this only made sense, as Davy had been an adult already for a long time.

Swede remains in her room working on her poem. One day, Reuben finds Dr. Nokes standing outside Swede's window, looking confused at the chanting and pounding noises coming from her room. Reuben explains that the poem is giving Swede trouble, and Dr. Nokes passes Reuben a bag containing pie and freshly baked bread.

That night, Swede comes into Reuben's room with a sleeping bag and asks to sleep in Davy's bed. She wonders if Davy will ever come home, and Reuben is close to tears. She finally explains to Reuben that she's been in her room because she can't figure out how to make Sunny Sundown kill Valdez. Reuben explains to the reader that after Swede's abduction, Valdez had transformed from a scrawny villain to a full-fledged monster. Reuben finally understands how scared Swede had been, and fears that now the poem won't turn out "right."

Swede reads Reuben several options for Valdez's death. Reuben thinks they sound fine, but Swede insists that just because she writes something doesn't mean it actually happened. Reuben doesn't fully understand, and he asks Swede who's in charge of the story. Swede doesn't answer.