Eleanor & Park Chapter 55 Summary

Park

We skip ahead in time. Park doesn't ride the bus anymore, because her mom gives him her old car when his dad buys her a new one.
Park's devastated without Eleanor; he spends a lot of time sitting and letting "whatever was left of Eleanor wash over him until he ran out of air" (55.4).
Even Mr. Stessman, the English teacher, feels like it's pointless to read Shakespeare aloud without Eleanor.

Eleanor rides to school with her uncle now. She notices that there aren't any Asian or black kids at her new school.
Eleanor's uncle has already been down to Omaha to pick up Eleanor's things. He's gone three days, and returns only with the black trash bag from her bedroom closet.
He's already bought her new clothes, a bookcase, a stereo, "and a six-pack of blank cassette tapes" (55.12).

Eleanor hasn't called—not that first night, and not since. She hasn't written, either. She never said she would, but Park thought it was "a given" (55.14).
When Eleanor left, Park waited. He knew he was supposed to leave, but he couldn't: "He watched the woman who came to the door give Eleanor a big hug, and then he watched the door close behind them. And then he waited, just in case Eleanor changed her mind" (55.17).
Park finally drove away and bought Eleanor a postcard from the first truck stop.
When he got home, his parents are relieved. He goes right to his room to write Eleanor a letter.

Eleanor was crying when her aunt opened the door. She tells her aunt that nobody died, but still cries. She thinks she shouldn't have told Park to leave, and runs outside to get him, but he's already gone.
She hears her aunt and uncle talking after she goes to bed; they wonder if she's telling the truth.
Eleanor writes her mom a letter saying all the things she's kept bottled up; she threatens to call the police, and asks her mom to think of her siblings.

Park walks by Eleanor's house sometimes. The toys are gone, and he doesn't see any of her siblings. Josh tells him that Eleanor's little brother stopped coming to school: "Everybody says they're gone. The whole family" (55.58).
Park's mom thinks it's great, but Park just wonders if his letters are reaching Eleanor.

Eleanor thinks about calling Park from the phone in the spare bedroom—now her bedroom—and she practices dialing his number.
Her new friend Dani, who she's in theater camp with, asks if she's ever had a boyfriend; Eleanor denies it when Dani asks if she's ever kissed anyone.
Eleanor decided that if she and Park weren't going to get married, "they were just going to stop" (55.72); she can't think about Park loving her less than he did when she last saw him.