Finders Keepers

Tom and Linda Saubers argue in the kitchen while their children, Pete and Tina, watch television in the living room. Tom worked as a realtor when the stock market crashed, and he lost his job. His wife is a teacher, and they can no longer afford to live on just one income. Tom plans to attend a city job fair with his friend, Todd, and is adamant that they need to be there at midnight to get in line; Linda argues that he can wait until the morning.

When Tom and Todd arrive at the job fair at midnight, dozens of people are already in line. Tom falls asleep and wakes to daylight and a heavy fog. Just then, a Mercedes-Benz drives into the crowd of people. Tom watches the car run people over, bodies flying, before it turns toward him and drives over his back. Tom awakens in the hospital. His wife tells him that he is not paralyzed, but it will be a long time before he walks again.

Morris, Curtis, and Freddy clear out Rothstein’s house, taking the money and notebooks from the safe. Morris reflects on his mother, Anita Bellamy, who was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Morris dreamed of becoming a writer himself, but after an argument with his mother over Rothstein’s trilogy when he was 17, he left the house, got drunk, and broke into a home. He was sent to Riverview Youth Detention, where he was raped multiple times. He resents not being able to write a Great American Novel and remembers thinking of Jimmy Gold often at Riverview, withstanding beatings because “that was what Jimmy Gold would have done” (29).

As Curtis vomits, Freddy asks Morris why he killed Rothstein. Morris thinks how he did it because Rothstein made him feel stupid, had Jimmy settle down with a family, and stopped giving his writing to the world. Instead of telling Freddy this, he tells him that the notebooks are worth more with Rothstein dead. The three men drive from New Hampshire to New York, where they stop at a rest stop. Morris shoots and kills Freddy because Curtis and Freddy are not like him—they are true criminals who will be caught for something else and tell the police about Rothstein. Morris shoots Curtis in the chest, but he does not die, so Morris beats him with the butt of the gun. Curtis survives this as well, so Morris gets into the car and drives over his head. He heads back home to Sycamore Street, where he lives with his parents.

Thirteen-year-old Pete Saubers listens as his mother comes home from work and his parents fight. His dad, unable to work after his injury, regularly takes Oxycontin. His mother lost her job as an elementary teacher when the school closed and now works as a librarian. The Saubers live in the same house on Sycamore Street where Morris lived in 1978. Pete sneaks into the woods, where he often goes to escape his parents’ fighting. He sits by the river and finds a trunk buried under a partially fallen tree. A few days later, Pete returns to uncover the trunk. Inside are the stash of money and notebooks from Morris’s robbery in 1978. Pete contemplates what to do with the money, believing that giving it to his parents might cause a fight. He decides to rebury the notebooks but returns home with the envelopes full of money.

The next morning, Morris meets his friend Andy Halliday, a bookstore clerk, to talk about the notebooks. Andy is immediately hostile, explaining to Morris that the police have already found Rothstein’s body. Morris is adamant that they can sell the books, but Andy wants nothing to do with it and tells Morris to get rid of the notebooks and money immediately. After his conversation with Andy, Morris begins to get nervous. He goes into the yard in the rain and buries the trunk with the money and notebooks inside. To calm his nerves, he heads to a bar.

Pete decides to anonymously mail his father $500 each month. As the months go on, his parents fight less and are able to address many of their financial problems. Because they cannot figure out where the money is coming from, they make Pete and Tina promise not to tell anyone. Pete returns to the tree where the trunk is buried and hides the notebooks in the attic. He opens one and reads the first page, realizing that it is part of a novel about Jimmy Gold. He vaguely remembers hearing the name elsewhere.

Morris awakens in a jail cell with a pounding headache. He vomits into the toilet. As when he was 17 after fighting with his mother, Morris cannot remember the night before or why he is in jail. He meets with his court-appointed lawyer, convinced that he has been caught for Rothstein’s murder. However, he learns that he assaulted and raped a woman after being thrown out of the bar where she works. He assaulted a police officer as well. At trial, he pleads guilty, hoping for a reduced sentence of 25 years in prison. Instead, he gets a life sentence.

Pete, now a junior in high school, continues to send his parents money but is now close to running out. He thinks often of the D. H. Lawrence short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” in which the main character keeps returning to the “land of luck” for winning racehorses, adamant that “There must be more money!” (102). Pete applies the idea to his own situation, considering how to get money from Rothstein’s notebooks.

After reading the Gold trilogy and the two unpublished books within Rothstein’s notebooks, Pete becomes obsessed with literature. He plans to study it in college, thanks in part to Mr. Ricker, who taught his sophomore English class. In his final paper for the year, Pete extensively researched Rothstein’s life and received an A+. Pete’s sister, Tina, now 12, wishes to attend Chapel Ridge, a private school. Pete believes it would help her care more about school and figure out a direction in life. The family is still struggling financially, however, though Pete’s father now owns a real estate business and no longer needs crutches or pain medication and Pete’s mother is back to teaching full-time. After Pete sends his father the last of the money, he approaches Mr. Ricker and asks about local book dealers, hoping to sell Rothstein’s notebooks. Mr. Ricker tells him to stay away from Andrew Halliday Rare Editions because he is a stickler for avoiding stolen property.

One night, Tina comes into Pete’s room and says she knows that he was the one sending the money. He denies it, but she is not convinced. She confirms that the money is indeed gone, expressing her disappointment at not being able to go to Chapel Ridge. After their conversation, Pete decides to try to sell the notebooks, which would become “the biggest mistake of his life” (126).

Morris spends 35 years in prison. His roommate rapes him early on, and he survives it by repeating Gold’s mantra: “shit don’t mean shit” (127). When Morris does a favor for another inmate by writing a letter to his wife, the inmate beats Morris’s roommate, and the sexual abuse stops. Throughout his time, Morris goes in front of the parole board every five years. Each time, his victim, Cora Ann Hooper, attends and recounts her rape and continuing trauma. Morris’s parole is denied each time.

He often writes letters for inmates, earning money and good favor. He writes to their loved ones, lawyers, and the parole board, helping some be released from prison. He also works regularly in the library and reads, noting that “books [are] escape. Books [are] freedom” (150). He also tracks the sale of valuable books and attempts contact with Andy Halliday, who never answers. Morris dreams of getting out of prison just to read Rothstein’s books, hoping Jimmy Gold redeems himself by turning away from his domestic life in Rothstein’s sequel. In March 2014, Morris appears early before the Parole Board, who inform him that Cora Ann has cancer and wrote them a letter stating that she forgives Morris. He is granted parole and released.