These Silent Woods

The day after Cooper tells Finch that Jake is likely dead, they hear footsteps outside the cabin and immediately head for the root cellar where they can be concealed from snoopers. However, this time the visitor is Scotland, who brings Finch a kitten, which she names Walt Whitman. Cooper is hesitant to let her keep it—and resentful that Scotland didn’t ask him first—but Scotland tells him that it will help her process her grief. Before he leaves, he asks Cooper whether he plans to try a supply run and offers to watch Finch while he goes to Walmart. Cooper, however, decides his daughter will come with him this time.

Cooper takes stock of their supplies and realizes they will be out of food by Christmas. If he were alone, he thinks, he could manage, but he doesn’t want Finch to have to suffer. He makes a list of the items he’ll need to purchase and goes over possible disaster scenarios in his mind—traffic, nosy shoppers, a breakdown, or an accident. He admits to himself that all of this planning is a symptom of paranoia about being recognized, even though he has a beard and looks much older than he did the last time he ventured out of the woods.

He allows Finch to come, but to her disappointment, he tells her that she cannot go into the store with him and must remain hidden under blankets on the floor of the backseat. She rides alongside him until the sign for their highway exit appears, then ducks under the blankets as instructed.

At Walmart, Cooper feels overwhelmed, having not been out in public in nearly eight years. He struggles with the lights, displays, and the vast number of options. As he puzzles over oatmeal selections, a middle-aged woman approaches him and engages him in conversation; she does not recognize him but rather sees a man unused to grocery shopping for his family. The conversation is longer than Cooper would like, but he finally escapes unscathed. The aisles of Walmart confront him with all of the small luxuries of conventional life, such as candy, ice cream, and colored pencils, all of which he buys. The checkout process is agonizingly long, but he feels accomplished as he leaves the store. However, he returns to his Bronco to find a man looking through the window at something moving in the back. He tells him it’s a puppy he has bought for his daughter and refuses to let the man see.

On the drive back, he feels “triumphant—no, more than that. Jubilant. Giddy, even” and decides to allow Finch to come into the gas station with him (67); she reminds him that she has never been inside a store.

The gas station attendant tries to draw Finch into conversation, but she remains quiet. Cooper is horrified when the attendant says she remembers seeing his Bronco before; this was where he had called Jake from a pay phone on their way to the cabin. He is relieved as the conversation turns to vehicles. As they are talking, the town’s sheriff comes in, and Cooper quickly pays.

While Cooper fills the Bronco with gas, the sheriff comes out and asks Finch’s age. When he does not answer, Finch answers for him, and the sheriff tells them that Finch should be in a booster seat. When the sheriff leaves, Cooper scolds Finch for talking to him and not listening to his instructions not to speak to anyone.

Back at home, as they unload their supplies, Finch marvels over the processed foods she has never seen, such as Cheerios and Ritz crackers, while Cooper reflects on the successful excursion.

That night, Finch asks Cooper for stories about her mother. Cooper tells Finch about Cindy’s love of animals. She once saved baby squirrels from a cat after their mother died and raised them on their farm, which is a story that Finch loves to hear. However, after Finch goes to sleep, Cooper remembers what really happened: Despite their efforts, the squirrels died without their mother within a few days. He notes how the happier version is better and still shows what a good person Cindy is, which is the important part.

Cooper thinks of how it’s often difficult to be alone at night and be left to think about Cindy. They would talk about the future. He thinks of how Cindy would be happy with the life they are living.

The following day, Finch makes a cross to put on Susanna’s grave. She then goes out into the woods to sit and watch creatures. Cooper has always been impressed by her ability to be quiet and not be heard, even by the animals around them. Cooper chops wood for the fireplace until he hears the whip-poor-will call by which Finch signals her return.

When she returns, she wants to talk about their trip to Walmart and everything she saw in the car ride there—people, their yards, stores. To himself, Cooper lists all of the things that Finch is missing, some of them minor, others not. He knows that the life he has made for them will not be enough for her someday, but he hopes to prolong their seclusion. When she turns 18, he plans to send her to meet her grandparents—Cindy’s parents, who he refers to as Judge and Mrs. Judge. He knows that her resemblance to their daughter will be proof of her identity.

Cooper looks back on the aftermath of Cindy’s death. At first, Cindy’s mother, Mrs. Judge, came over frequently to bring groceries and ask about caring for Grace Elizabeth (Finch). Less than two weeks after Cindy’s funeral, Cooper allowed Mrs. Judge to take her granddaughter for a couple of hours. The next day, however, Child Protective Services (CPS) showed up with the police and a court order to remove the baby. In retrospect, Cooper admits that the house had been a mess and that he was still struggling to care for his daughter. The deputy was a friend of his and told Cooper not to fight the removal because it would only make it harder to secure custody of his daughter, especially given his PTSD. Cooper relented and let them take her, then immediately regretted it.

Cooper spent the rest of the afternoon preparing to leave. He loaded up several guns, all the money he had, as well as food and supplies. When a CPS worker came to his home, she explained that he would likely have to wait anywhere from six to 18 months to get Finch back. Because he and Cindy were not married, he must prove paternity; he also must clean up his home and likely go to therapy to prove he is dealing with his PTSD.

Enraged, Cooper instead decided to take his daughter and flee. That very night, he went to the Judges’ house to take her back.

Finch admits to Cooper that the day before, she ventured further than she had said and found a camera lens cap. She was afraid to tell him because she did not want to get in trouble. Cooper assumes Scotland has been spying on them and venturing into their territory.

He has Finch take him to where she found the cover. As they walk, he thinks of how easily Finch walks through the woods, quietly and without disturbance—something she learned through growing up there, and things that most people are taught. They end up in one of their hunting blinds, waiting and watching until two deer come into view.

Just as Cooper is about to shoot one, they run off as a noise comes from the woods. Instead of seeing Scotland emerge as he expects, Cooper sees a young girl with a backpack and a camera. She sets up her camera and takes photos of the area, less than 100 yards from where Cooper and Finch are hiding—close enough, that is, to see them.

The girl finishes taking pictures and leaves, seemingly without having seen Cooper and Finch. However, once she goes, Cooper has a panic attack and he struggles to breathe, collapsing face first onto the ground.

Cooper has had panic attacks for years. He resented the term when he was first diagnosed, but he admits that “attack” captures what it feels like. He recalls appointments with Dr. Shingler at the VA, who taught him some basic techniques to calm himself.

Cooper, having passed out for several hours, comes to just as it is beginning to get dark. Finch sits nearby, huddled in a blanket. She admits that she gets scared when Cooper has these episodes and she asks him whether she will start to have them too. For a moment, Cooper worries that simply being near him will be enough, but he tells Finch that she probably shouldn’t worry. For the first time, he tells her that he was a soldier in Afghanistan.

As Cooper cooks dinner in the cabin, Finch draws a picture of their experience, with the large tree, the river, and the young girl with red hair and a backpack.

That night, Finch keeps talking about the girl in the woods, asking Cooper what he thought she was doing and commenting on how pretty she was. Once Finch is asleep, Cooper thinks through the events of the day and what they mean for him and Finch. He studies the hand-drawn map of the property that Jake’s father had created. He thinks back on how he has always possessed a keen sense of direction. At 11 years old, he had guided his Aunt Lincoln home after they got lost on a deer hunt; in the Army, too, his skills were valuable. Cooper’s sense of place tells him what he does not need to look at the map to confirm: The girl had ventured well into their land and past the “No Trespassing” signs. He wonders if they were her footprints he had seen by the chicken coop in the snow. Her presence makes their situation “more tenuous than it already was” (118).