How It All Goes Down
- You can tell that it's summer now, because the tourists have arrived. They're everywhere.
- It's a big day for Lou, because she's decided to take Will to the horse races under the guise of giving Nathan his first experience at the track. Will reluctantly agrees.
- Things go wrong almost immediately. When they reach the parking lot, our heroes realize that it's a grass field, which will cause Will to "sink" if he wheels across it (11.31). Strike one.
- After carrying Will toward the entrance (slowly), they make their way to their seats. And it starts raining. Strike two.
- Will impatiently asks how long they'll have to stay, though Nathan seems to be getting into it. They decide to grab lunch after a race or two.
- When they arrive at the restaurant, however, our heroes learn that it's only open to visitors with "Premier Area" badges, which our trio does not have (11.81).
- Lou lets loose on the server, but it doesn't help things at all. And that's strike three, folks.
- After getting a small lunch at a food stand, our trio decides to head back to the car. There's just one problem: the rain has turned the grass into mud, making it impossible for Lou and Nathan to lug Will across the field.
- Lou finds a group of veterans and lies to them, saying that Will was disabled during the Iraq War, in order to get their help. And they do help. Quite drunkenly, we might add.
- Back at the house, Will is giving Lou the cold shoulder. He finally tells her that he's always hated horses, and that she would have known that if she had just asked him.
- Instead, Will says, she did what everyone else does—she "decided for [him]" (11.185).