Chapter 22 – Monday August 26, 1929
Antoine meets Lada and Thomas Bogdanovic at Kay’s Luncheonette. Thomas invites Antoine to his wedding with Mary Alice Kendal.
Thomas explains that his family does not approve of the marriage because Mary Alice is not Serbian and because he will not be getting married in the Serbian Orthodox Church. Therefore, he needs Antoine to be a groomsman because his closest friends and relatives will not be allowed to attend. He also tells Antoine that after the wedding he will move to Delaware and go to work for DuPont Chemical.
Lada tells Thomas that she will work on their mother, Mila Bogdanovic, to at least meet Mary Alice.
Chapter 23 – Saturday July 20, 1929
Lada, Randel McCullers, and Antoine drive to Cuyahoga Falls together for Thomas’s wedding. She describes how she convinced her mother to meet Mary Alice, approve the wedding and how her mother squared the union with the Serbian Church.
The chapter describes the wedding and reception that followed.
At the reception, a bridesmaid, Susan Waterford, bullies Antoine into dancing with her, and she teaches him the rudiments of the waltz. Then Mary Alice, the bride, asks him to dance, after which Lada insists that he dance with her, too. During the dance with Lada, Lydia du Pont, heir to the du Pont fortune, cuts in to make sure that Antoine knows that Mary Alice belongs to her.
Antoine drives Randel’s car back to Akron with Randel passed out in the back seat and Lada asleep on his shoulder. When he drops Lada at her mother’s house, he walks her to the door, she wants him to kiss her, but he refuses. He says that he’d rather keep her as a friend than lose her altogether, which he says would happen if her family found out they had a romantic relationship.
Characters introduced:
George Kendal – Father of the bride
Archie Kendal – Brother of the bide
Luca Bogdanovic – Thomas’s cousin, best friend, and groomsman
Ann Kendal – Sister of the bride and maid of honor
Susan Waterford – a bridesmaid
Lydia du Pont – member of the wealthy du Pont family, distant cousin of the bide, and a bridesmaid
Louise Crowninshield – godmother of Lydia du Pont, granddaughter of the founder of the DuPont Chemical Company
Francis Crowninshield – godfather of Lydia du Pont, husband of Louise
Chapter 24 – Saturday May 2, 1970
Billy Perkins is in his bedroom packing his National Guard uniforms. His father walks by and is startled to see him in the house because he should have been at school at Miami (of Ohio) University. They discuss his call up to the National Guard and deployment to Kent state.
Characters introduced –
William (Billy) Anderson Perkins IV – son, grandson and great grandson of Ohio National Bank vice presidents.
William Anderson Perkins III - Billy Perkins’s father
Chapter 25 – Saturday July 20, 1929
The police catch Nelson McLaughlin driving without a license at age 14. This chapter describes the heated discussion between Nelson and his father, Dr. Earl McLaughlin, about his transgression and punishment. Earl draws up a “contract” that outlines his punishment and requires Nelson to sign it and post it on his door.
Chapter 26 – Monday August 26 and 29, 1929
Joey DeLuca and Frank Farmer approach Antoine about running for the Goodyear Assembly, a Goodyear inhouse “union” modeled on the U.S. U.S. Congress.
Lance Morrison has told Antoine that this approach would be made, and he agrees to run. His true purpose is to spy on Goodyear management for a shadowy unionizing organization which Morrison works for.
Characters introduced –
Franklin (Frank) Farmer – Goodyear Assembly Senator and tire plant worker.
Chapter 27 -Tuesday September 12, 1929
While passing out flyers at the plant gate for his election to the Assembly, Bruno Krakowski assaults Antoine. Members of the Bogdanovic faction at the plant protect Antoine from serious harm.
Characters introduced –
Bruno Krakowski – Brawler
Chapter 28 – Saturday May 2, 1970
Stephen Bogdanovic leads a gang of “outside agitators” that burns down the Kent State ROTC building.
Billy Perkins’ National Guard unit arrives at the scene after the ROTC building has burned to the ground.
Characters introduced –
Bob Carlton – Stephen’s partner in the attack on the ROTC building
Lieutenant Butterfield (Butterball) – Billy Perkins’ CO
Sergeant Wilcox – Billy Perkins’ NCO
Private Sandy Ritter – man in Billy Perkins’ squad
Chapter 29 – Friday September 15, 1929
Antoine meets with Lance Morrison to discuss the upcoming Goodyear Assembly election. When Antoine gets into Morrison’s car, he is startled and a little afraid to find that Bruno Krakowski is in the backseat.
Lance assures him that all is well, the assault at the gate was just a publicity stunt, and it worked to perfection. All that remains is to make a good speech at the election rally, and his election will be assured.
Chapter 30 – The Great Depression
An economics paper written by Denny McLaughlin on the causes, events and results of the Great Depression.
Chapter 31 – Sunday May 10, 1930
With the Great Depression in full swing, Pierre and Antoine talk about money and job job prospects on the way home from church. All construction projects in Akron have come to a halt, and Pierre has not worked in a couple of months; Antoine expects to be laid off in the coming months.
Chapter 32 – Wednesday May 28, 1930
Dr. Earl McLaughlin, Laura and Agnes discuss their financial situation. The doctor expects to have some trouble collecting fees from patients which will require some belt tightening. Otherwise, they will go on as usual.
Chapter 33 – Sunday May 3, 1970
Denny goes toto meet Alison to drive her back to school, but she fails to arrive on time. He calls the frat house where her boyfriend lives only find that he is in jail and she has no way to get to the meeting place. He drives into East Lansing to pick her up.
She is distraught but manages to tell him about her terrible weekend. She asks why he failed to call with a telephone number where she could reach him. He admits that there was no family reunion. He spent the weekend at a truck stop and slept in his car. He only took the trip so he could get to know her better. She tells him that she thinks that’s pretty romantic.
Chapter 34 – Wednesday August 6, 1930
Antione meets Lada at a Kay’s Luncheonette. She tells him that she is going to be forced to marry Frankie Dragovic if Antoine doesn’t marry her first. He goes through a long list of reasons why that is impossible. She gets up to leave and angrily tells him if her mother sends him an invitation to the wedding, don’t bother to come.
Chapter 35 – Thursday August 14, 1930
Antoine and Marie go to Jimmy’s American Legion baseball game, and on their way home they see a run on their bank. Jimmy runs to get their father while Antoine and Marie keep a place in line.
When Antoine comes home from work at midnight, he finds his father sitting in the darkened kitchen. Pierre says that he was able to get most of the money from their checking account, but nothing from their savings: over $7,000 which they were putting aside for Jimmy’s college education. If the bank fails, all or most of that will be lost.
Again, they take stock of their resources. Antoine admits that he has been putting aside money for quite a while because he was concerned about the stability of the banks. He has almost $400 which is a sizeable amount of money, but it must last them for an undetermined amount of time.