Contents
Chapter 22
Overview
Caleb announces plans to become a substitute kindergarten teacher, which alarms Natalie, who fears it will cement a small life. She counters with culture-war talking points and prods his deeper fantasies of being an icon like his father. Recognizing his craving for legend, Natalie resolves to redirect him toward a performative cowboy-farmer path.
Summary
On a winter morning after the extended Mills family departs the estate, Caleb bursts in declaring he has found his purpose: substitute kindergarten teaching at his old private school. Natalie, exhausted with Clementine’s care, immediately questions the job’s fit and salary, fearing it will lock them into a diminished future.
She attempts to dissuade Caleb by invoking conservative anxieties about schooling and by suggesting he aim for something more intellectually rigorous. Caleb counters that he simply wants a job he would enjoy, and insists kindergarten teaching fits that desire.
Pressed to consider other ambitions, Caleb mentions childhood dreams of being an actor or a cowboy. Natalie, recalling his reverence for his father’s mythic image, realizes Caleb’s true longing is to embody a patriarchal American legend, not the specifics of acting or ranching.
Seeing an opportunity, Natalie pivots. If Caleb needs a role to perform, she can supply it: not a humble substitute teacher but a real-life “cowboy.” She decides to steer him toward farming and livestock—an identity he can perform even without proven work ethic—believing this path could shape him into the man and image he craves.
Who Appears
- NatalieNarrator; rejects Caleb’s kindergarten plan, manipulates fears, identifies his icon fixation, and decides to channel him into a performative cowboy-farmer role.
- Caleb MillsProposes substitute kindergarten teaching; resists conventional jobs; admits childhood dreams of actor/cowboy; unconsciously seeks his father’s iconic persona.
- ClementineInfant daughter; present during the discussion, bonding playfully with Caleb while Natalie changes her diaper.
- Doug MillsCaleb’s father; evoked as a mythic patriarch whose image Natalie realizes Caleb longs to emulate.
- ReenaNatalie’s sister; briefly imagined back at college, contrasting Natalie’s domestic grind.
- Natalie’s motherInfluences Natalie’s performative mindset; her anecdotes fuel Natalie’s culture-war arguments against the teaching job.