The Corrections Chapter 6 Summary

One Last Christmas

• Alfred is unpacking Christmas lights in the basements. On the table next to him is "an enema kit" and—ominously—"a pump action shotgun" (6.1).
• A few lights on the strand are burned out. Although he knows that he could go to the store and buy a whole new strand, Alfred stubbornly wants to fix it himself.
• He fumbles with the lights and they come back on, only to flicker back off a moment later; this happens a few times and Alfred's frustration grows.
• His work finished, Alfred goes into his workshop and brings the shotgun with him. He bought the gun on a whim when he retired but never ended up using it.
• Now he's considering using it in the most awful way possible. But he's scared. And he has one question that he wants to ask Chip, "his intellectual son" (6.36). That question is…
• Thanks to Aslan, Enid wasn't stressed in the least by the whole cruise ordeal—she even gotten Alfred to sign a new contract with the Axon Corporation without a tinge of guilt.
• But then she ran out of Aslan and "nearly died of shame" (6.40), and now she's jonesing so badly that she almost asks Alfred's doctor to prescribe her the drug.
• The doctor finishes his examination of Alfred. He says that Alfred might have dementia (which would exclude him from the Correcktall trials) but Enid suggests that it could be drug-related.
• Enid finally breaks down and asks her friend Bea Meisner—who's about to visit her daughter in Austria—to bring her back a six-month supply of Aslan. Somehow, just asking for Aslan gives her the relief she needs.
• Her tension relieved, Enid schedules a ten-day drug holiday for Alfred to determine whether he will be eligible for Correcktall.
• She's also getting into the Christmas spirit because Gary and Jonah will be here soon. Unfortunately, Gary calls to tell her that Jonah is sick and won't make it. Enid is devastated.
• Her mood is lifted the next morning, however, when Chip calls and tells her that he'll be home for Christmas.
• She prods Alfred to take a shower before Gary arrives, but Alfred demands a bath. Gary arrives just as he plops into the tub.
• After some chit-chat, Enid asks Gary to give Alfred a hand. Using his "courtroom voice," Gary tells Enid that he will do anything for her "except deal with Dad in situations he shouldn't be in" (6.134). Gee thanks, Gary.
• Enid gives in and goes upstairs. The doorbell rings once again as she washes Alfred's hair as though he were a child.
• According to Gary, it was just Bea Meisner dropping off a gift for Enid. To her disappointment, it's only a bottle of wine—no Aslan.
• Gary helps Enid with chores. She asks him to install a shower bar in the downstairs bathroom, and after a little temper tantrum, Gary agrees.
• They go to Christmasland, St. Jude's annual Christmas light show, later that night; both Enid and Gary are moved by the spectacle.
• Gary goes to the medical supply store to pick up the shower bar. He hates the medical supply store because it's filled with his least favorite things: "large quantities of human bodies" and "poor people" (6.217). He's so eager to leave that he's downright rude to the cashier.
• We learn that Jonah wasn't really sick at all. Caroline bribed him to stay by buying him the computer game he's been craving. We also learn that Gary bought five thousand shares of Axon and the stocks are already paying off nicely.
• Gary stops by the airport and picks up Denise. He pulls out a bag of pills from his jacket—looks like Bea lived up to her promise. Denise laughs and says that it's just "Mexican A" (6.285). Franzen, you sly dog!
• They make it home but Gary realizes he forgot some supplies—so it's off to the hardware store we go.
• Now equipped for the task at hand, Gary goes to the basement to grab Alfred's drill. He sees the shotgun sitting in Alfred's lab, but guiltily ignores it.
• With that, Gary gets to work on the shower bar. But the drill's not working and Gary's seeing red. What's wrong with this thing? Oh, there we go: Alfred points out that the drill is set on reverse.
• Gary has made everyone in the family their own "leather-bound copy of the All-Time Lambert Two Hundred album" (6.373), which he gives to them after they see The Nutcracker that night. By now, he's already moved on to a new hobby—building model trains.
• Gary wakes up in the middle of the night with a full bladder. In his delirium, he becomes convinced that there's a "phantom killer" (6.382) roaming the hallways, ready to slice him to pieces if he goes to the bathroom. Thankfully, the giant beer stein sitting in the corner of the room makes a stellar makeshift urinal.
• He creeps into the hallway and realizes that it was just Denise. He can hear her talking in her bedroom and she quickly pops out when he knocks.
• Before he can ask her any questions, Gary hears Alfred shouting his name.
• He follows Alfred's voice into the bathroom. Alfred is having a psychotic episode and Gary feels himself going a bit mad while standing in the bathroom with him.
• Let's rewind for a second.
• After being fired from the Generator, Denise couch surfs in Julia's NYC apartment for a few weeks. The little vacation makes her feel a lot better—she falls in love with the city and all of the lovely young ladies that she has the opportunity to "meet."
• She finds two voicemails on her phone when she returns from Philly: one from Emile telling her that he took her job at the Generator, and one from Robin wanting to talk.
• Denise and Robin get back together, despite Robin currently being in the heat of her divorce proceedings. For some reason, however, Denise starts being mean to Robin with a "deliberate, calculated form of cruelty" (6.457); she even refuses to see her children.
• One day, Enid calls and reminds Denise of her commitment to house Alfred during the Correcktall trials. She really doesn't want to—but what are you going to do? Her frustration bubbles over and she breaks up with Robin soon before flying to St. Jude.
• It's understandable then that Denise is in an odd mood during the Christmas visit. She sneaks into Gary's room and steals the Aslan because she doesn't think he has the right to control Enid's life.
• As she cleans out the kitchen cabinets, Denise finds the first Axon contract that Enid hid—she confronts her mother but Alfred makes her stop.
• Later that day, Enid asks Denise to put the Christ baby ornament on the tree—a sacred ritual in the Lambert house. Denise can't get herself to do it, much to Enid's disappointment.
• The mother and daughter have a heart-to-heart. Denise tries to reveal the true reason behind her firing, but Enid won't let her. Some heart-to-heart.
• Gary arrives a few minutes later with a bag of "railroad memorabilia" (6.676) he just bought. Meanwhile, Denise takes the pills from her room and stuffs them in the twenty-fourth box of their Advent calendar.
• Denise takes a nap, which is cruelly interrupted by Gary, Enid, and Alfred shouting at each other about the new shower bar; Alfred, as usual, just wants a bath.
• Enid tells Denise to help her dad with his exercises. She tries, but Alfred can't even tell his left from his right at this point. Their session ends after Alfred pees his pants while mumbling something about the "bottom of the bench" (6.761) and a man with "blue cheeks" (6.765).
• It takes Denise a moment to realize that he's talking about Don Armour. Don Armour? Holy sauerkraut, what's going on?
• He continues mumbling about Little Rock and the bottom of his bench. Denise sprints down to the basement (sees Alfred's shotgun) and looks under his desk. What she sees horrifies her—a heart with the words "DA + DL" inside.
• Denise runs outside. She realizes now that Alfred had lost his job because of her: Don Armour must've threatened to expose their affair after the Midpac was purchased by the Wroths, forcing Alfred to quit in shame.
• She returns to find Gary and Enid in yet another argument. Denise asks Enid about Alfred's decision to quit and all of the details line up with Denise's theory; she cries.
• Somehow, this makes something click inside Enid, and she finally admits that Alfred's "not going to get better" (6.870).
• To Gary's horror, Denise gives Enid the pills. Amazingly, Enid throws them right down the garbage disposal and tells Denise to get Alfred, who's currently in the basement.
• Denise finds the workshop door locked and freaks out—she immediately thinks that Alfred is going to kill himself. She opens the door and finds something even more surprising—Alfred applying an enema while staring at the bottom of the bench. She shuts the door and turns away at the speed of light.
• She comes back a moment later and apologizes. Alfred is as confused as ever.
• Chip (he's still alive, folks) was rescued from the airport by Gitanas and his crew. Things are bad and getting worse.
• Their escape is cut short when their car flips off the road. A group of shady-looking police officers approaches them and relieves our heroes of their cash and weapons.
• Finally, the "police" leave. Luckily, Chip still has $2,000 left that they didn't manage to find. His new plan is to walk across the border to Poland and catch a flight there.
• Chip makes it to Poland and manages to hop on a flight just in the nick of time. And his brings us to Christmas day in St. Jude, with Chip—against all odds—knocking on the front door of his childhood home.
• Alfred opens the door—and he is psyched. So is Enid, though Chip, on the other hand, is still a bit shell-shocked.
• The family sits down to eat. Arguments flair, of course, with Gary being his usual persnickety self. Gary finally reaches a breaking point, shouting at everyone and storming out. Ugh.
• Enid begs Chip to stay for a week and he meekly resists.
• That night, Chip and Denise sit together outside the house. Denise begs Chip to let her clear his debt to her. And what does she want for return? Her big brother has to stay that extra week.
• Chip goes upstairs and finds Alfred struggling with his blanket.
• We're shown one of Alfred's hallucinations: He's in a "prison yard" (6.1188) being intimidated by wardens and fellow patients alike; he hopes that Chip will rescue him.
• He feels himself being tied up but Chip arrives just in time. Chip is talking with Doctor Schulman, who is one of the few caretakers who doesn't terrify Alfred. Chip seems to be paying more attention to her than to Alfred.
• He panics when Chip leaves, begging him to take him with him; all Chip can say, though, is, "I can't" (6.1290).