John Gardner
The Sunlight Dialogues
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
(All characters in this novel except for May Brumstead, Mr. Perkowski, Pete Mollman, and Dr. T. M. Steele, are purely fictitious.)
Fred Clumly (b. 1902), Chief of Police, Batavia, N.Y., 19571966
Esther Clumly, his wife
The Sunlight Man, a lunatic magician
The Hodge Family:
Arthur Hodge Sr, U.S. Congressman, builder of Stony Hill Farm
Will Hodge Sr, his eldest son, a Batavia attorney
Millie Jewel Hodge, Will Srs wife (divorced, 1964)
Clarence Jewel, her father
Gil, her favorite brother, a suicide at eighteen
Will Hodge Jr, son of Will Sr and Millie, a successful Buffalo attorney
Louise, his wife, mother of their children Madeline and Danny
Mary Lou Hodge Carter, daughter of Will Sr and Millie, wife of George Carter
Luke, Will Srs youngest son, a farmer
Arthur Hodge Jr, the Congressmans second son, an electrician, a man of system; father of seven daughters
Ruth Hodge Uphill, the Congressmans daughter, married to the brother of the Fire Chief in Batavia
Ben Hodge Sr, the Congressmans fourth child, a farmer and man of religion
Vanessa, his wife
Ben Jr, his son; died in the Korean War
Nick and Vemon Slater, young Indians paroled into the custody of Ben Hodge Sr (The elder, Nick, was later transferred to Luke Hodge)
David, Ben Srs Negro hired boy, also a parolee
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
THE POLICE:
Dominic (Miller) Sangirgonio, Clumlys right-hand man
Jackie, his wife
Tommy (Einstein), his son
Stan Kozlowski, Prowlcar 19; son of a farmer
Mickey Salvador, eighteen, a guard in the city jail
His mother
His grandmother, a seer
John (Shorty) Figlow, sergeant at the desk; a nervous man, unhappily married
Borsian, a State Trooper
Baltimore, Negro janitor in Batavia City Jail
CITY OFFICIALS:
Walt Mullen, Mayor
Judge Sam White, brother to Congressman Edward (Ted) White
Phil Uphill, Fire Chief Jerome Wittaker, Mayor Mullens assistant
OTHERS:
R. V. Kleppmann, a confidence man and survivor
Mrs. Kleppmann, his wife Walter Boyle, a thief
Walter Benson, a good citizen living in a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y.
Marguerite, his wife
Oliver Nuper, the Bensons boarder
Gretchen Niehaus, one of Nupers mistresses
Albert Hubbard, owner of a nursery inherited by his sons
The Woodworth Sisters: Agnes (deceased), Editha (aged 108, a poetess), and Octave (aged 97), daughters of Rev. Burgess Woodworth, original pastor of the Batavia First Baptist Church
Clive Paxton, owner of a trucking firm; father of Kathleen Paxton
Elizabeth, his wife
Professor Combs, her elderly lover
Freeman, a rootless wanderer
MINOR CHARACTERS (A SELECTION)
Merton Bliss, the last of the New York State liars
Robert Boas, a drunkard
May Brumstead, beloved matron of the Batavia Childrens Home
Ed Burlington, a news reporter, former Sunday School student of Mrs. Clumly
Helene Burns, a teacher; good friend of Taggert Hodge
Dr. Burns, a psychiatrist
Bill Churchill, a professional mourner
Edna, a madam
Bob Faner, next-door neighbor of Will Hodge Sr
Mr. Hardesty, neighbor of Luke Hodge
Pete Mollman, a publisher and printer in Millstadt, III.
Harold (Buz) Marchant, a Chicago physician, friend of Will Jr
Mrs. Palazzo, Will Hodge Srs landlady
Mr. Perkowski, a Batavia grocer
Jeff Peters, friend of Millie Hodge
Chief Poole, Batavia Police Chief when Clumly was young
Raymond, hired man to Will Sr when he ran Stony Hill
Solomon Ravitz, Buffalo TV personality
Dr. Rideout, Genesee County Coroner
Rosemary, a madam
The Runian Sisters, former occupants of Luke Hodges farmhouse; murdered by their nephew and hidden in the manure pile
T. M. Steele, well-known Batavia physician and surgeon
Walt Sprague, last of the true Upstate New York Republicans
Bob Swift, a foolish newsman
Rev. Warshower, Will Hodge Srs minister
Rev. Willby, Esther Clumlys minister
The earth in its devotion carries all things, good and evil, without exception.
THE I CHING
Riding horses in a back pasture, gone wild. Woods. Inside, on a hill, a house as black as dinosaur bones. Grass grows up through the driveways broken asphalt, but there is a car. This is the house of the oldest Judge in the world. The Judge has company.
Take any ordinary man, give him a weapon say, x caliber (he chuckled wickedly) put him in the middle of a wilderness with enough ammunition to fire three times in four directions these are Holy numbers and behold! youve created order. He blew out smoke like dust.
As to that, Fred Clumly said, I wouldnt know. He had turned his badge in long ago, and even before that he had found the opinions of his friend the Judge, if the Judge was his friend, obscure. It was now no longer necessary to figure out what the Judge was saying. Clumly was retired. In Batavia, opinion was divided, in fact, over whether hed gone away somewhere or died.
The Judge leaned forward, parting the yellow tobacco smoke with the side of his hand, so that Clumly could make out somewhat more clearly the great gray concrete head and the glint of the eyes. The world is a vast array of emblems, he said, exactly as the old hermetic philosophers maintained. I state it for a fact. His large fist closed.
Clumly nodded thoughtfully for a long time, his shrivelled head bobbing like a dried pod on his frail stick of a body. As to that he said.
The Judge sighed and, like an old, slow lizard, withdrew to the gloomy secretness of his smoke. They were both silent for a long time. The room grew darker, as the time of day required. The Judge said, What ever happened to that boy of yours the religious one whats-his-names son, your top man?
We lost track of him, Clumly said. Went away, I heard. A town like this
Tragic, said the Judge, nodding.
The former Police Chief scowled, considering. As to that
They all go away somewhere, sooner or later, the Judge said. Ive been watching it eighty-some years. Do you know where they go?
Clumly shuddered. Theyd been through this many times.
Entropy! the Judge squealed. Then he laughed, as soundless as a snake.
Maybe, Clumly said.
The Judge asked kindly, Your wife?
Dead, Clumly said.
The Judge nodded once more, remembering. Theres some meaning in that. He took a long, slow drag on his pipe, casting about like an old woman in an attic for the meaning.