Tell the Wolves I'm Home

The opening day of South Pacific—a Saturday—arrives. At breakfast, June and Greta are alone together for the first time since Greta destroyed the items from June’s closet. Greta complains of the expectations placed on her to excel, not truly wanting to take part in the Annie production on Broadway that summer and wishing she could get back her lost year of childhood. June sympathizes but remains angry at Greta for destroying her things. Greta pleads with June to attend the after-show cast party, saying she needs to speak with her then.

After Greta leaves, their mother tells June to retrieve the safety deposit key—she needs to pick up the painting for the meeting with the man from Newsweek. June attempts to stall, but they arrive at the bank just before it closes. They are permitted to take the painting from the safety deposit box, and June waits for the inevitable to unfold.

June falls asleep and wakes up in the late afternoon. She finds the painting propped up downstairs, with her and Greta’s additions clearly visible. When her mother enters, June tries to explain, but her mother is livid. She insists that defacing the painting is proof that June has too much spare time and vows to fill it. She continues, angry that the damage will lessen the painting’s value. June’s father enters and instructs her to prepare for the musical—June is forbidden to attend that night’s cast party.

The family arrives at the high school for the performance. June tries to find Greta to let her know that she cannot attend the party, but her father will not let her leave. During the performance, June feels that something is off and realizes Greta is drunk.

Afterward, she bumps into Ben, who tells her that the party is not in the woods but at the home of a cast member. June asks him to pass along her message to Greta, but Ben thinks he saw her heading for the woods.

Back at home, June’s parents stay up late watching TV and making sure she does not attempt to sneak out. June is certain that Greta is waiting for her beneath the tree and worried she may have some drastic plan to get out of performing in Annie. As the rainstorm continues, she calls Toby and asks him to retrieve Greta. He agrees; June will watch for him to bring Greta to the back door.

June apologizes to her parents for the painting. They go to bed. June is waiting for Toby when the doorbell rings.

There are two police officers at the door with Greta, who is wet from the rain. Once inside, they hand over a coat Greta has been wrapped in, and June’s mother orders her to place it in the bathtub. As she does, June realizes that it is Finn’s coat. The police explain how Greta was heard screaming and then was seen being carried by Toby out of the woods. Toby also had June’s passport. Greta is able to invent a lie on the spot about seeing Toby in the city previously and inviting him to the party because he appeared lonely. She lies and says that the passport was to make a fake ID for June. Their parents believe the lie. Toby, however, remains in the back of the police car; the police indicate that his visa has expired, and he is not residing in the US legally.

June cannot sleep, so she sneaks into Greta’s room, and they talk. Greta admits to wanting Finn to die so that she could have June to herself again, explaining that their mother told her of Finn’s AIDS diagnosis before June—her mother had caught Greta using Finn’s Chapstick. They talk until dawn, and June feels as though the real Greta is finally back.

In the morning, June tries to call Toby, but there is no answer. She finally falls asleep until her mother wakes her at noon, saying that they want to move past what has happened and begin to do more things as a family.

Later, June sees Greta studying the portrait. They agree that they like it better with their alterations.

June continues to attempt to reach Toby all day Sunday but cannot. On Monday at school, she runs into Ben, who tells her of a news article that explains that the howling they heard in the woods was a pack of once-tame dogs that were allowed to go feral but have since been killed. He asks June to come over sometime to play Dungeons & Dragons, and she agrees.

That afternoon, she attempts to do her homework but cannot. She continues to worry about Toby and tries to reach him by phone, but the line just rings and rings.

June obsessively justifies calling Toby that night. She continues to phone the apartment.

On Wednesday, June phones the police station and learns that Toby was sent to a hospital in the city because he had a fever. June calls the hospital repeatedly until, after her parents have gone to bed that night, she gets ahold of Toby. Toby hints at the likelihood that he will die in the hospital. June and Greta drive to the city, though June is unsure of what she will do or say when she sees Toby.

June and Greta go to the apartment so that June can retrieve a change of clothes for Toby. They look up the location of the hospital and devise a plan whereby June will pretend to be Toby’s sister from England. Greta will wait until June is safely admitted and then return home.

June finds Toby’s room; initially, she is shocked by his condition, but then they talk. June admits to her deep love for Finn and then decides that she will take Toby back to his apartment. She sneaks him out of the hospital into a taxi but then gives the driver her home address. As they ride, she tells Toby a story about Finn.

June, Greta, and their mother keep a vigil with Toby, who sleeps on the living room couch. Only June and her mother are there when Toby dies. One night, June secretly sees her mother add her own addition to the painting.

After Toby dies, the ownership of the apartment is transferred to June and Greta. Toby is cremated, and June’s mother agrees with her suggestion that they blend his ashes with Finn’s.

A month later, an art dealer from the Whitney Museum returns the painting to the Elbus home. A restorer has been able to return it to its original condition. However, June’s mother’s additions—a necklace on June and a ring on Greta—remain. June believes that this is a testament to her mother’s talent. They hang the painting above the mantle in the place where it was initially hung. June keeps the negative-space image of the wolf as her own secret.