Joyland

Devin, still not quite understanding that Wendy has left him forever, heads for Heaven’s Bay and takes his room at Mrs. Shoplaw’s rooming house. The upstairs rooms have been taken by Tom Kennedy and Erin Cook. Erin has been hired as a Hollywood Girl—girls who go around the park taking pictures of the coneys (an old-fashioned word for bunny rabbits) as the park staff call the visitors, and selling them the pictures if they want them.

Devin and Tom are both “Happy Helpers”: general (and sometimes literal) “dogsbodies” who do a little of everything from running the rides and shies to cleaning up. The three of them agree that they will try to be on the same work crew, and all three of them wind up on Team Beagle. At the orientation lecture, 200 summer employees are greeted by Bradley Easterbrook, the owner of the park, who tells them he hopes this will be the best summer of their lives and the scale by which they measure every job in the future. They are being given a priceless gift; Joyland is a respite from the broken world. This summer, Devin and his compatriots will have the opportunity to sell happiness. Older Devin looks back on the speech as one of the best he ever heard because it was truth. For one summer, he had the privilege of selling happiness.

The new recruits get a few days of training. They learn the rules and the lingo of the park. Some of the language is pure “Carny,” and some is specific to Joyland. The older Devin tells the reader that he did everything that summer, including selling tickets, popcorn, funnel cakes, cotton candy, and hound dogs (hotdogs) in the “joints.” He also runs the rides and the shies. One of his favorite parts of the job was entertaining children in the Wiggle-Waggle Village.

On his first full day of working the carnival, he wears the Howie the Happy Hound costume. Howie’s job is to entertain the kids in the Wiggle-Waggle. It is considered an important job at the park, and Bradley Easterbrook always eats his lunch at the Wiggle-Waggle on opening day.

Dottie Lassen, who runs the costume shop, assures Devin all he has to do is find his inner dog and trust the kids—they’ll know what to do. At the Wiggle-Waggle, Devin finds that Dottie is right. Instinct takes over, and he launches into the Hokey Pokey, drawing all the kids in, and then spending the rest of the time hugging and patting little heads. That summer, Devin spends more time “wearing the fur” than anyone else, and it is his favorite part of the job. He learns that kids aren’t just one of life’s inevitabilities but are actually a good idea, something to actively want.

As the summer goes on, Devin writes Wendy several long letters and gets back a single flippant postcard. One of Wendy’s roommates tells him she has moved out. The roommate is happy to be rid of her because of her drinking and all-night parties. When the roommate realizes who Devin is, she suddenly sounds amused, as if he has been the butt of a joke. A few days later, Devin receives the letter from Wendy: three pages of clichés about fighting a hopeless attraction, hoping they can be friends, the accomplishments of her wealthy boyfriend.

Devin is taken aback by the depth of his jealousy and sense of rejection. For weeks, his broken heart keeps him up at nights, listening to weepy music and brooding over his loss until he is cornered by Rozzie Gold. She scolds him for neglecting himself. She tells him to quit listening to morbid records and thinking about harming himself. She asks him whether he has met the girl with the red hat or the boy with the dog yet (he hasn’t). She warns him that she sees sorrow and danger in his future. She points to the Horror House and tells him to stay out of it; it’s haunted, and in his current state of gloom, he needs to stay out of places like that. When Rozzie leaves, Lane Hardy jokes that she only believes the ride is haunted because she’s afraid of it, but the irony is that it really is haunted.

On the Fourth of July, Devin is headed down Joyland Avenue when he sees a little girl in a red hat fall to the ground, choking on a hot dog. Devin hardly remembers getting the head off his Howie costume, grabbing the girl, and giving her the Heimlich maneuver. The next thing he clearly remembers is the little girl’s mother falling to her knees in front of him and gathering up her daughter.

Pictures of the event wind up in the papers, and the next day Mr. Easterbrook tells Devin that he has just given the park $20,000 worth of free publicity. Mr. Easterbrook can’t afford to give him the bonus he deserves. What he can do is owe him a favor. If Devin ever needs one and Mr. Easterbrook can grant it, he will.

For the sake of the park’s publicity, Devin does a photo op with the girl, whose name is Hallie Stansfield, and her parents. He realizes that the mother is several months pregnant and learns that the father is struggling to get a small business off the ground, so when the father offers Devin a check for $500, Devin turns it down. When Devin tells Tom and Erin about the $500, Tom is appalled that he turned it down. Devin explains about the new kid coming and the new business and how he didn’t think the family could afford to give away money. For Tom, $500 represents 20 hours a week working in the cafeteria at UNH for a semester. He thinks Devin is crazy not to take it.

The older Devin reflects that he never really knew if Tom was truly angry. Tom lived from paycheck to paycheck just like Devin. Money didn’t own Tom, but it was important to him. In any case, Devin finds that he doesn’t really care about Tom’s arguments.

Devin also tells Erin and Tom about Madame Fortuna’s prediction about the girl with the red hat and the boy with the dog. Skeptical, Tom thinks it’s probably coincidence and charlatanry. Devin adds that Madame Fortuna thinks the Horror House is haunted by the ghost of Linda Gray. He fills them in on the details. According to Lane Hardy, the only reason Rozzie thinks the ride is haunted is because she won’t go in to find out for sure. Lane thinks that’s funny because the ride really is haunted. None of them have been inside the Horror House, and Erin suggests they go in on their day off and take the ride. After some resistance, Tom agrees, and they plan to go the next day.