Leaving the Yellow House

Leaving the Yellow House Summary | Detailed Summary

Hattie's neighbors at Sego Desert Lake are concerned for her safety. Desert life is difficult enough for hardy souls, but an old, frail woman such as Hattie, it could be dangerous. Hattie also doesn't manage her money wisely, and she has a drinking problem. Her neighbors have helped her in the past, but Hattie's frequent pleas are trying their patience.

Despite this, Hattie's neighbors genuinely are fond of her. Hattie is a pleasant woman, who in her youth graduated from finishing school and studied the organ in Paris. However, as Hattie ages, her memory begins to slip and she is given to frequent tantrums. Once a week, Hattie dresses up and drives 40 miles to buy groceries, do laundry and get her hair done. When her errands are completed, she usually stops for lunch and two martinis and then spends the remainder of the afternoon at Marian Nabot's Silvermine Hotel, drinking and gossiping with her lady friends. She heads home at precisely five o'clock.

Among Hattie's neighbors are the Rolfes, who are retired and financially well-off, and the Paces, who own a guest ranch. The other people who live in the area primarily are Mexicans, Indians and Negroes who lives in shacks and boxcars.

Hattie has lived in her house at Sego Desert Lake for more than 20 years. She first came to the lake during the Great Depression with a cowboy named Wicks. Hattie was newly divorced and didn't have much money, and she and Wicks lived on the range, trapping coyotes for a living. Once a month they came to town, rented a room and drank heavily. They got caught in a storm one day, so Hattie and Wicks knocked on the door of the yellow house where Hattie lives now and were greeted by Alice Parmenter, who took them in and let them sleep on the floor. Eventually, Wicks leaves Hattie and moves on.

Despite her fine upbringing, Hattie likes to think of herself as a rough, experienced woman of the West. As part of this persona, she drinks more than she should and keeps bottles of whisky hidden in her house and car.

One evening after having a few martinis with the Rolfes, Hattie loses control of her car as she passes over a railway crossing, and her car gets stuck on the tracks. Hattie doesn't want to admit that she has had too much to drink, so she decides to say that she sneezed as she was crossing the tracks and inadvertently twisted the steering wheel. She realizes that the engine is dead and the car is hopelessly stuck, so she goes to the Paces' ranch. Hattie knows the Paces are away, so she looks for Darly, the cowboy who works for them.

Hattie finds Darly tending bar in one of the ranch's cabins and asks him for help. Darly impatiently asks Hattie what has happened this time, and she gives the explanation that she has concocted. Darly gets angry and reminds Hattie that he told her to stay home after dark. Then Darly tells her that he is not supposed to close the bar. Hattie begs, and Darly eventually relents. As they go to Hattie's car, Darly tells her that he was on his way to getting a customer to spend his entire paycheck in the bar before Hattie interrupted with her emergency. When Hattie tells Darly that he is obligated to help her because they are neighbors, Darly tells her that she isn't fit to live in the desert anymore. Hattie knows he is right, so she doesn't respond. Hattie knows that if her car is destroyed by a train before they can get it off the tracks she will be forced to leave the lake, a prospect that scares her because she doesn't know where she would go.

The miner who was in the bar and his girlfriend also come along to help. Because all three are drunk, the process is difficult. After a few unsuccessful attempts at removing Hattie's car from the tracks, Hattie suggests that she find Swede, the town's telegrapher. Darly agrees, and as Hattie tries to cross the metal chain that Darly had hooked to her car to pull it from the tracks, Darly guns the motor of his truck, causing Hattie to trip and break her arm. With the miner's help, they finally move the car.

Hattie tells Darly she is hurt, but he thinks she is lying to escape blame for the accident. Darly finally relents and agrees to take Hattie to the Rolfes, saying that they were the ones who let her get drunk in the first place. As he drops her at the Rolfes' gate, she asks him to move her car. Darly speeds off without responding. Hattie goes to the Rolfes' house and tells them what happened.

After cleaning Hattie's wounds, Helen Rolfe takes Hattie home and puts her to bed. Hattie objects to the heating pad wrapped around her arm because it will cause her generator to run and burn valuable gas. Rolfe tells Hattie that this is not the time to be stingy and that they will be back in the morning to take her to the doctor. When the Rolfes leave, Hattie turns off the heating pad anyway, and she soon becomes keenly aware of the pain in her arm. Hattie realizes that Helen has covered her with a comforter that had once belonged to India, the woman from whom she inherited the yellow house. Hattie is sure this comforter covered India when she died, and Hattie pushes it away. As Hattie tries to sleep, she imagines that she is near death herself. She tries to banish that thought from her mind.

Hattie spends some time in the hospital, and her condition deteriorates. She becomes delirious and is confined to her bed to keep her from roaming the halls and harassing the nurses and other patients. Helen wonders if they should contAct 1 of Hattie's brothers, but Hattie begins to recover before they do. Hattie becomes obsessed with knowing how many quarts of blood were needed during her surgeries, and she tells her visitors that she needed gallons of new blood. The doctor tells Helen that Hattie shouldn't drink or smoke anymore, a notion that the Rolfes agree is preposterous.

Hattie is worried about how she will pay for her hospital stay, and she suggests to Rolfe that she could sell some of her valuables. Rolfe tells Hattie that she should consider selling her house. Hattie admits that she has thought about selling the house and says she would like to get $20,000 for it. When Rolfe suggests that $8,000 would be more reasonable, Hattie argues that Sego Lake is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Rolfe counters that the lake is 500 miles from San Francisco and 200 miles from Salt Lake City, which makes it difficult to reach and suitable only for eccentrics like them.

Hattie spends the next few weeks undergoing physical therapy and worrying about how she will replace the blood in the blood bank. She asks her doctor if he is interested in buying her house, but he declines. As Hattie recovers, she reminds herself that she was near death and has managed to get better. Even so, Hattie is still quite weak and her mind wanders more than ever. Hattie finally decides that she needs to stop worrying because one way or another things will work out for her, just like they always have.

Hattie's thoughts now often turn to her deceased friend India, as Hattie recalls how her friend often became annoyed with her and how the two women spend far too much time drinking. India often blamed her excess drinking on Hattie saying that Hattie didn't share the same interests, making it difficult for them to converse. India often lamented that she felt as though the lake was the only place where she fit in. Indian was bitter about the way her life turned out, and she often lashed out at Hattie and treated her badly. Eventually India regretted her actions and begged Hattie for forgiveness. Hattie resented India's treatment of her, but Hattie acknowledges that she does not know what would have become of her if India hadn't left her the yellow house.

When Hattie is finally released from the hospital she stays with the Rolfes. The Rolfes know it won't help to completely cut Hattie off from alcohol, so they limit her to two drinks a day. Hattie is grateful to be back at the lake and makes plans for the coming summer. As the days pass, however, and the heat of summer arrives, Hattie finds she can't do much more than dress herself each day. On some mornings, Hattie goes to her house and spends a few hours looking over her things. Hattie is pleased to find that her car still runs. She looks at her garden, which is thriving under Sam's care. Returning to the house, she spots a piece of blanket that had once belonged to her dog, Richie. Hattie looks around and sees more traces of her beloved pet, including hair that he shed on the furniture that she had never gotten around to vacuuming and a collar still hanging on the doorknob of India's room.

Hattie has already decided that when it's her time to die, she will ask to be moved to India's bed because she does not see the need for two death beds in the house. Her thoughts turn to the will that she knows she needs to attend to. She had recently telephoned India's lawyer to begin the process, also mentioning that she hopes to sell the house for $15,000. Hattie told the lawyer if the house couldn't be sold she would rent it for $200 a month.

Hattie sits in her living room and wonders again what will become of her if she can't sell the house. She tries to push these thoughts from her mind, reminding herself that she always lands on her feet. Even so, Hattie recognizes that she is an old, feeble woman who is of little use to anyone.

As Hattie sits, she sees Sam, a local man who does odd jobs for some of the residents, watering her garden. Hattie is grateful for Sam's help and she longs for some company, so she invites him in for a beer, a gesture she has never made before. Hattie is reluctant because Sam suffers from a skin disease, which Hattie believes is impetigo and she is afraid of catching. Hattie takes great care not to touch anything that Sam touches. Hattie has Same drink his beer from the can rather than a glass, and she makes sure that she wears gloves before touching any of the gardening tools that Sam uses. As they talk, she tells Sam that she believes she will be on her own again by Decoration Day.

However, when mid-June arrives Hattie is still not well enough to go home. Helen Rolfe tells Hattie that she and her husband are leaving for Seattle. Hattie is surprised, and Helen reminds her that they had told Hattie about the trip at Christmas. Hattie assures Helen that she will be just fine on her own, but Rolfe asks who will look after Hattie in their absence.

As Hattie and the Rolfes contemplate this in silence, Hattie realizes that the Rolfes are the only people she can count on to help her, and now they were going away. Hattie knows that they are only going on vacation, but she gets angry that they are abandoning her before realizing that the Rolfes are trying to tell her that there is a limit to what they can do for her. Angry and hurt, Hattie tells the Rolfes that she will take care of herself, but if it does become necessary for her to leave the lake, they will find themselves very lonely. Hattie then returns to her house, fully aware that she is forgetful, responds to voices that only she hears and will likely find herself in trouble.

A few days after Hattie returns to her house, Rolfe stops by to tell her that he is going into town and asks if she would like him to bring her back some food. Hattie's feelings are hurt, but she knows that she cannot afford to refuse his offer. She instructs Rolfe to bring her some things from the market and to charge it to her account.

As the afternoon passes, Hattie get more and more tired and eventually falls asleep. When she awakes it is almost midnight. She is hungry, so she eats a few shrimp she had left out to thaw before going to bed. In the morning, Hattie once again begins to recognize that she needs to pull herself together. She feels a little better after drinking a cup of coffee. She wonders if she should contact her brother Angus, but she is reluctant because she knows that he most likely will make her quit drinking and smoking. More importantly, she has her own house and she does not want to leave it. Hattie is determined to take care of herself, so she begins to do the exercises the doctor had prescribed for her broken arm. Soon, however, Hattie is overwhelmed with sadness at the prospect of being left alone with no help.

While Hattie is full of good intentions, she never manages to take care of her personal matters. A letter from the insurance company goes unanswered and eventually gets lost, she doesn't call the attorney as she had promised herself she would and although she thinks it is in her best interest, she never follows through with her plan to contact an institution in Los Angeles that manages property for senior citizens. As a result, Rolfe writes to Angus to tell him about Hattie's condition. Rolfe also visits Amy Walters, an old widowed woman who lived nearby.

Amy is working in her garden when Rolfe arrives. Rolfe gets right to the point and asks Amy if she would consider living with Hattie. Amy refuses, saying that the two women have extremely different habits and it would be difficult for them to get along. Rolfe persists, saying that there is no telling what might happen to Hattie if she is left alone. Amy says she would be willing to spend a few hours a day with Hattie, but that she would need to be paid for her time. Rolfe reminds Amy that Hattie has no money, and Amy suggests that Hattie leave Amy the house in her will. Rolfe knows that Hattie would never consider such a proposition, so he doesn't even mention it to Hattie.

One day, as Hattie is having a few drinks in Pace's bar, Pace asks her if she allow some cowboys sleep in her house in exchange for a one-time payment of $500, $50 a month and leave the house to him in her will. Pace's proposition angers Hattie, and she accuses him and everyone else of trying to push her out of her house. Hattie tells Pace that if he wants to help he can donate blood to the blood bank. When Pace suggests that Hattie's drinking caused her accident and put her in this position Hattie gets even angrier, and she leaves the bar to go home and take care of some of the things she has been putting off.

When Hattie gets home, she writes a letter asserting that Pace has no claim on her property. She describes the ways that Pace has taken advantage of her over the years. That finished, she thinks about how she has aged and how her body has changed in recent years, and she realizes that she feels as though she never really accomplished much with her life and now, as she nears the end, she can't even be assured of when, or if, death will come. Hattie remembers a time before she inherited the yellow house when she wished for death on a regular basis. This changed when she inherited the house and for the first time had something to call her own. But now, things have changed, and she has found that one by one, the people she thought she could count on have deserted her.

Hattie pours herself a drink and sits down with a cigarette. She contemplates all that has happened during the course of her life. She recalls being a promising young music student in Paris, a young wife, getting divorced and her refusal to marry Wicks because he was merely a cowboy and she was accustomed to the finer things than living on the range and trapping coyotes. Then her mind turned to a memory that she had suppressed for many years, the fact that she killed her beloved dog Richie. Rolfe had warned that the dog was ill-tempered and potentially dangerous, but Hattie ignored him. She regretted that decision the day the dog turned on her and attacked. Knowing she had only one way out, Hattie killed the dog with one blow of her hatchet. Ashamed at what she had done, Hattie buried the dog during the middle of the night and blamed a neighbor for her pet's disappearance.

Recalling this sad event causes Hattie to take stock of her life. When she thinks about all of the mistakes she has made she wonders aloud what she should do to help herself. The answer comes in an instant, and Hattie gets in her car. However, as hard as she tries, she can't maneuver the brakes and gears. She returns home totally defeated, pours herself a glass of bourbon and sits down to write her will.

As Hattie writes, she still has no idea to whom she will leave her house. She realizes that no one came to her aid the way she did for India. Despite her overwhelming sadness, she feels a sense of pride in the fact that she has property to bequeath, a notion that up until a few years ago was out of the question. Hattie realizes that her death will bring some good to whomever she chooses to be her heir, and she wonders who would benefit the most by inheriting the yellow house. She goes through her immediate family, including her brothers, nephews and cousins. She can't find a suitable heir among them, so she thinks about her friends. Soon, her thoughts turn to her old boyfriend Wicks, who Pace told her was working as a handyman south of Bishop, California. Hattie remembers when she last saw Wicks. They had been arguing a lot, and one day, at the brink of anger, Hattie pointed a loaded pistol at Wicks and told him to leave and never come back. Wicks tried to apologize, but Hattie refused to let him and he left, never to return. Hattie realizes that if she hasn't chased him away, she likely wouldn't be alone now.

Hattie finally decides that the most suitable heir would be Joyce, the unmarried daughter of her cousin. Hattie quickly reconsiders, however, when she realizes that she could never condemn a young person to the type of life she has lived. She realizes that the yellow house isn't meant for a young person, but rather an old person like herself living out his or her last days.

By this time, Hattie is quite drunk. She writes in her letter that she cannot bear to give away the only thing that she owns, so she is leaving her house to herself. She realizes this is a preposterous idea, and she decides to wait until morning to make her decision.