A Man In Full

Mayor Wesley Jordan calls Roger to his office to discuss the Fareek case. Wes tells Roger that Inman Armholster visited him to discuss the alleged crime against Elizabeth. Armholster wants justice yet is unwilling, at this point, to file charges against Fanon. This is because he does not want to drag Elizabeth into a trial. Wes thinks that despite Armholster’s current reluctance to file charges, the matter is bound to become public and ignite a tinderbox of racial tensions in Atlanta. Though Wes did not say this to Armholster, he is inclined to support Fareek to show the Black people of Atlanta that he is on their side.

Wes asks Roger to come for a tour of Atlanta with him so Roger understands how best to win against Armholster. First, he takes Roger uphill to Peachtree Street, the poshest part of the city, largely inhabited by wealthy, white residents. Armholster’s enormous house, built like a Venetian palazzo, is the most valuable single-family home in all of Atlanta. Close by is Charlie Croker’s mansion. When Roger remarks that Armholster’s house is built in the Italian style, Wes makes fun of Roger for his interest in “grayboy” or white architecture. Roger angrily counters that “art and architecture aren’t black or white, they’re just art” (191). Wes mollifies Roger, and they drive downhill past downtown Atlanta to the historic Sweet Auburn neighborhood, where the home of civil rights leader Martin Luther King still stands. The area is beautiful, but as they keep driving further, the neighborhoods look more rundown. This is the part of town where the lowest-income Black families live, and the difference from Peachtree could not be starker. Wes shows Roger the collapsing single-story house in which Fareek grew up. Wes’s plan is to juxtapose for the media the difference between Elizabeth and Fareek’s childhood homes to show the extent of Fareek’s disadvantage.

Martha Croker, Charlie’s ex-wife, is working out at a DefinitionAmerica gym class. Martha feels judged by other gymgoers since at 53, she is the oldest woman there. However, she knows she has to work out vigorously to achieve the present beauty ideal of “boys with breasts” (209), or absolutely thin women with large bosoms. Martha blames Charlie for her predicament. Before Charlie’s affair with Serena, Martha was happy with her body and comfortably settled in their life, assuming she would grow old with Charlie. Martha helped Charlie build his career, giving up her own ambition of attending medical school to raise their children. Now that her marriage is over, Martha feels she needs to start over again. To attract a new mate, she needs to be skinny.

Martha meets her friend, Joyce, for lunch to discuss her worries. She tells Joyce that while her and Charlie’s mutual friends supported Martha during the divorce, they have since moved away from her. Martha feels isolated and invisible. Pursuing her old dream of medical school also looks futile, as universities have told her candidates her age are at a hiring disadvantage. Joyce tells Martha she can make a comeback in society by buying a table at a huge art opening in Atlanta and inviting many people.

Meanwhile, Serena tells Charlie they must buy a table at the art opening. Although Charlie hates the idea of spending $20,000, he knows that it is important that he show up at the social event.

At the PlannersBanc headquarters, as the bankers discuss how to recover the loan from Charlie, Peepgass once again feels sorry for himself. Unlike recovery officers like Harry, the hotshots of the office, loan officers like Peepgass are relegated to the background. Peepgass further reflects how Charlie Croker has unwittingly betrayed him on two accounts: Not only did Peepgass approve Charlie for a huge loan, swept up in the vision of success Charlie promised, but Peepgass also disastrously emulated Charlie in his personal life. After Charlie daringly abandoned his wife, Martha, to marry Serena, Peepgass too felt the thrill of possibility. Peepgass believes he had the affair with Sirja because he was inspired by Charlie.

Peepgass snaps out of his reverie when he hears Harry tell the team that seizing Charlie’s assets is a bad idea as foreclosure means the bank would have to show a $500 million loss on their books. Peepgass decides it is time to speak up and let the “red dog,” or the wild spirit inside himself, loose. He suggests to Harry that instead of foreclosure, they should force Charlie to hand over the deeds of some of his assets. This way, they need not show a loss on their books and can later sell off Croker Concourse and other assets discreetly to recover money. What Peepgass does not tell his team is that he plans to put together the syndicate that will buy the property, thereby profiting from it.

Charlie is at the orthopedist’s to have his knee examined. The doctor advises him to get a knee replacement surgery. Recovery can take up to six weeks. Charlie feels the world is committed to making him feel old and dispensable.

A traffic snarl nearly causes Conrad to be late for his job test in downtown Oakland. With five minutes to spare before his slot, Conrad parks his small Hyundai car in a legally safe space between a large sedan and a red zone. As part of the job interview, Conrad has to undertake a typing test. He feels confident as his typing speed is 85 words per minute. However, when he begins typing, he realizes his fingers—swollen from his freezer-plant work—have seized up. Conrad does poorly on the test and leaves.

However, the botched test turns out to be the least of Conrad’s worries. When he gets to his car, he can see his car, now in the middle of the red zone, is being towed away. Conrad realizes that the driver of the sedan must have physically pushed his little car into the red zone to make space for themselves as they drove off. He tries to explain this to the tow truck operators, but they dismiss him, and the car is taken away. The only way for Conrad to get it back today is to pay a fee at the parking violations office and another for storage at the impound lot by 7:00 pm. Conrad manages to pay the violation fee but is $30 dollars short of the storage fee, which he has to produce at the impound lot. He calls home to request that Jill wire him money. By the time Conrad collects the money from Western Union and gets to the impound lot, it is 6:47 pm. There is a long queue at the fee counter, but Conrad manages to get to the front before 7:00 pm. However, the man at the counter asks Conrad for $154, saying that Conrad needs to pay extra for the long time it took to tow his car. A dejected Conrad, short of cash, walks away. On his way out, he spots the forklift driver who towed away his Hyundai, manhandling his car in the impound lot. Conrad screams, “[I]t’s not right” (273), enters the lot, and tries to get to his car. The forklift driver, Morrie, threatens Conrad with a Billy club and lunges at him. Conrad and Morrie tussle, Morrie falling hard in the process. Suddenly, security guards converge upon Conrad, pinning him down. Conrad can hear people say that Morrie is not moving.

Charlie is hosting a lavish guest weekend in Turpmtine. The guests include Charlie’s friend, Billy Bass; Baker County judge Opey McCorkle; Lettie Withers, the grand dame of Atlanta society; and Beauchamp Knox, a former governor of Atlanta. Charlie especially hopes to impress Herb Richman, the founder of DefinitionAmerica, so Herb can be persuaded to rent gym space at Croker Concourse for a $10 million annual lease. Charlie tries to impress his guests by playing up the authentic Southern aspect of his hospitality, including the Southern food cooked by his Black chefs, whom Charlie calls Uncle Bud and Auntie Bella. When Lenore Knox, the ex-governor’s wife, mentions attending a ball for AIDS, Billy and Opey make offensive jokes about hosting galas for various sexually transmitted diseases. Not wanting to be left behind, Charlie joins in and says a homophobic slur. Serena pulls Charlie aside to tell him he might have offended Herb Richman and his wife, who are liberal.

The worst faux pas occurs the next morning when Charlie takes his guests to the breeding barn, where a mare is to be impregnated by a stallion. The handlers put the mare, who seems unwilling to copulate, in stocks so the stallion can mount her. When the stallion is brought in, he is in extreme heat. The copulation is violent. Though the guests make jokes after the stallion is taken away, nothing diffuses the tension. Charlie, who is moved by the stallion’s masculine lust, proclaims that the example of the mare and stud proves that life is all about “the male and female, and that’s it” (309), and same-sex attraction is overrated. Later, he accidentally refers to Herb as “Hebe,” a slur for Jewish people. Charlie can see from Herb’s expression that Charlie can say goodbye to the $10 million a year.

Meanwhile, when Charlie and Billy are alone, Billy tells Charlie about Elizabeth Armholster’s rape charges against Fanon. Charlie is shocked as he has recently met Elizabeth. Billy tells Charlie that he has met Fanon. Fanon is arrogant and has too much attitude, decked in a thick gold chain necklace and diamond earrings. When Billy asks him about Elizabeth, Charlie describes her as a “sexy-looking little lamb chop” (296). Billy admonishes Charlie for the description, saying that “rape’s rape, no matter what kind of body the girl has” (296). Charlie defends himself: He was only making an observation and knows that rape is a very serious crime. Billy asks Charlie to keep the information secret, even from Serena.

After the weekend, Charlie and his guests fly back to downtown Atlanta in his G-5. As Charlie begins descending the stairs to the tarmac, he sees a team of men waiting for him. One of the men calls for Charlie and introduces himself as Martin Thorgen, a lawyer representing PlannersBanc. Thorgen tells Charlie that he has orders from the Superior Court of DeKalb County for the immediate arrest and removal of the plane as part of Charlie’s loan payback. To execute the court order, Thorgen is accompanied by police officers, plane operators, Peepgass, and Zale.

Charlie furiously brainstorms something that will allow him control over the situation and remembers the N. C. Wyeth painting inside the jet. He tells the PlannersBanc team he needs to go back on the plane to get the painting, but Harry informs him the painting, priced at $90,000, is part of the collateral. Charlie has another idea. He goes to the employees-only section of the hangar, gets a wrench, dresses up in mechanic’s overalls, and returns to the tarmac. Serena and his guests are on the asphalt, and the PlannersBanc team has boarded the plane to take it away. Charlie approaches the plane, out of sight of everyone, and throws the wrench in the mouth of the engine. When the pilots try to start the plane, it stalls. The bank team is forced to leave without the plane. Charlie feels triumphant.