“The Double House” is a short story by Nancy Hale about a desperately unhappy little boy. It can be read in the sample of Where the Light Falls: Selected Stories of Nancy Hale (55% in). The boy’s lifeline is his father, a happy and comforting man who assures him that everything will be alright when he gets older and he just has to hang on. It’s a memorable and moving story, but here’s a bit of a warning: This story is sad and might be too much for some readers. If you like this type of story, I suggest reading it for its full effect, rather than a summary.
“The Double House” Summary
Robert, eleven-years-old, lives in one side of a duplex with his father and father’s sister, his aunt Esther. The other side of the house is abandoned, and Robert thinks their place is ugly. It’s the best house his father can get for them, though, so he tries not to let his father know it’s an unattractive house.
Robert’s father is a happy person with an upbeat attitude. He tells Robert things get better when you grown up and they’re much alike, so he’ll be fine. Without him there, the house would be awful. Aunt Esther is weary and negative. She cries when Robert’s father tells stories about their house when they were children, so they don’t talk about it when she’s around. She told Robert childhood was the only happy time in life. This worries Robert, because he’s not particularly happy now, being weak and different and unpopular at school.
When Robert gets off from school, he doesn’t want to go home right away. He goes around to the back and squeezes through the broken cellar window of the adjoining house. He sits on an old bureau and reads in the cold. He also brings in his paint box and makes pictures. They’re not good, but his father says you get better at things as you get older.
Robert feels pathetic spending his afternoons alone like this and hates being shy and unpopular. He knows he has to hang on until he grows up and things improve.
When the sun goes down, Robert walks through the pitch-dark, scary cellar and squeezes out the window. He sits on the front step and watches the men walking in from the train. His father walks wearily until he sees his son, then he perks up. He greets Robert warmly and tells a story from the office.
The evenings are happy. They have supper with the fire going and Robert’s father is boisterous and makes jokes. Sometimes he reads poetry and is moved by it. Robert kisses his father goodnight and his father cheers him and encourages him to keep going.
In the mornings, Robert’s father walks with him to school before continuing to the station. They go through a small graveyard and along a broad street. One morning, walking through the graveyard, Robert’s father sees a small, red flower growing inside an enclosure. With a mischievous air, he lies on the ground and reaches in for it. Robert can show it in his botany class and impress everyone. Robert appreciates his father’s gesture but knows he’ll only be made fun of.
They separate at the corner and Robert is fearful on his own. His father looks slumped and tired as he walks on by himself.
In class, no one ever wants Robert to sit by them. The teacher praises the flower and talks to him for a minute after class. Walking into the yard at recess, a boy calls him “Daisy” and others join in. Robert hits him but then gets knocked down and has dirt smashed into his mouth. They taunt him with “Daisy”.
After school, two boys take his cap and he chases them futilely. They eventually stomp it into the dirt. Robert picks it up and starts for home.
Inside the abandoned house, Robert feels lonelier than ever. He accepts his weakness and being different from the other boys. He has no reason for being alive. Walking through the dark cellar, he’s terrified when a loop of rope hits him in the face. He sits on the front step, needing his father’s comfort badly.
The other men all walk by but Robert’s father doesn’t appear. Robert is struck with panic, imagining his father was run over. He wanders down the street and, finding it empty, runs home trying not to cry. He bursts in and tells Aunt Esther. She tells him his father has just missed his train and he’ll be home soon.
When his father opens the door, Robert rushes into his arms and breaks down. His father reassures him and tells him to wash up for supper. Robert washes his hands upstairs and calms down. His father is here and everything is alright. They’re alike, so he just has to hang on until he grows up.
Approaching the kitchen, Robert hears his father talking in an unusual voice. He’s being let go at the office. He feels like giving up and sometimes wishes he was dead. He wishes he was still a child, when he was happy.
Without thinking, Robert walks outside and goes around to the back of the house. He gets halfway through the broken window and stops momentarily, feeling hopeless and crying hysterically. He’s terrified and hopeless as he gropes in the dark for one of the dangling loops of rope. He finds one and sobs wildly.
I hope this summary of “The Double House” by Nancy Hale was helpful.
