In the Wild Light

A school administrator outlines the history of the academy for Cash and Delaney and explains that the student body represents the best and the brightest from more than 20 countries. Classes are kept small, and interactions with the teachers are encouraged. Cash’s roommate will be Patrick “Tripp” McGrath from Arizona, and Delaney will room with Viviani Xavier from Brazil.

Cash heads to his dorm room and meets Tripp, who barely looks up from his laptop. Born into a wealthy and prominent family, Tripp makes Cash feel unimportant and vaguely embarrassed to be from a small town in rural Tennessee. Feeling homesick, Cash has a video call with Papaw and cries when they sign off, prompting Tripp’s mockery of Appalachia’s distinctive country twang and the cruel assertion that Papaw “sounds like shit” (117) and should go to a doctor “before he croaks” (118). His insensitivity leaves Cash feeling lonely and sad.

That afternoon, Cash meets with an academic counselor who tells him that he will be placed in the sophomore class. Confused as to why he must repeat his sophomore year, Cash is told that such decisions tend to help students who come to the academy from public school systems. He is told that the school also requires him to join an athletic team, and he opts for crew, figuring that getting back in touch with a river will help to alleviate his homesickness. His completed class schedule will include an Introduction to Poetry class with Dr. Britney Rae Atkins, a popular teacher and published poet.

In the cafeteria, Cash tells Delaney about Tripp’s mockery and watches as other students come up to her to ask about her new penicillin discovery. Delaney makes light of her celebrity status and heads over to the ice cream machine to remind Cash of her roots back home at the Dairy Queen.

When he chats with his Papaw that night, Cash is surprised when his grandfather heartily endorses the poetry class even though Cash has never read much poetry. Papaw tells him that “[p]oetry lovers are just people who love beautiful things” (132).

It is only Friday. Classes start on Monday, and Cash fills his time visiting the gym and walking around the campus. That night, the school hosts a student meet-and-greet, where Cash meets Delaney’s roommate Viviani and is smitten by her Brazilian good looks, her outgoing personality, and her dazzling smile, as well as her “dramatic smoky pink eye makeup” (137) and her intoxicating perfume. Vi dreams of designing video games. They talk about their families, their classes, and even superheroes—Vi admires Shuri from Black Panther, while Cash prefers Bucky Barnes, Captain America’s sidekick.

As the meet-and-greet winds down, Vi and Cash take a stroll around the campus lake. Under the full moon, Cash shares with Vi how much he misses Pigeon River, and Vi admits how much she misses the ocean, claiming to be “mermaid” (145). After the mixer, as Cash tries to fall asleep, he thinks about how different his life would be if he had never met Delaney at the Narateen meeting all those years ago.

On Saturday, Cash, Delaney, and Vi take a school-arranged field trip into the town of New Canaan and stroll around the quaint, high-priced shops. Cash notices that Delaney is calmer and more buoyant and that she does not chew at her thumbs with such urgency. After dinner and a long chat with Papaw, Cash joins the other residents for to watch a vintage vampire movie. That night, he has a dream of being trapped behind sealed doors sealed: a memory of pushing against the bathroom door the day he found his mother dead.

On the first day of classes, both Cash and Delaney mock the school uniform. After orientation in the auditorium, Cash heads to his first class, Introduction to Poetry, and finds Dr. Atkins to be a riveting presence. In his perception, her eyes are the “luminous gray” (160) of lightning. He admires her raven black hair that is streaked by blue and notices that she sports a silver nose ring and several tattoos on her forearm: one of a wolf head, the other of a hawk. When the students each sharing their favorite poet, Cash sheepishly admits that he does not know any poets, but Dr. Atkins reassures him.

That afternoon, Cash attends his first crew practice, and the coach startles him with the upbeat message that the team must work together. Before they are ready to head to the river, however, they must start conditioning, and although the pace is grueling, Cash perseveres. He meets a teammate named Alex Pak, a student of Korean descent who was raised in Houston. The two trade barbs about the virtues of Korean versus Tennessee barbecue, and when they head to dinner together after practice, Alex shares his plans to go to Yale Law, work for social justice, and ultimately run for Congress. Cash is impressed by his new friend’s ambition and certainty. Cash introduces Alex to both Vi and Delaney. They all get along well and officially declare themselves to be a “squad” (174).

After dinner when Cash chats with Papaw, Alex joins in, and the three have a friendly chat despite Papaw’s coughing. Cash notices that his grandfather’s cough sounds “weak and tired and thin” (178). After Alex departs, Cash tries to focus on his homework but cannot stop worrying about his grandfather.

Cash visits Delaney in the school science lab. With her lab coat and goggles, Delaney seems in her element, although she tells Cash that some students make fun of her Tennessee roots and her chance discovery of the “magic mushrooms” (181). Cash tries to cheer up, saying, “I guess being a genius has a downside” (183).

The first week passes, and Cash struggles to keep up with the pace of his classes—except for poetry, which is his favorite. His friendship with Vi grows tighter, and the two chat together whenever they can take a break from classwork. His roommate, Tripp, remains distant and surrounds himself with a cohort of fellow student-athletes, all of whom are lacrosse players, who, in Cash’s estimation, “smell like money” (187).

Workouts with the crew team are welcome breaks for Cash, particularly when practices move to the river, which is flooded by the splendid colors of early fall. As they row, Cash feels part of a rhythm, part of team, which he expresses poetically by stating, “My body is a cog in a larger gearwork” (188). Despite the good things in his life at school, he cannot help but wonder whether this might be Papaw’s last autumn.