The Mighty Red

Gary picks up Kismet, who doesn’t call herself Gary’s girlfriend, from her house. He is nervous because he plans to propose. Kismet is characteristically quiet. She does not mind silence, and she does not always want to talk to Gary. Her feelings for him are complex: She enjoys her power over him and wonders if that is what love should feel like. She also finds him tedious and irritating. Gary stops the car and proposes, and Kismet panics, emitting a scream that he mistakes for “yeah.” His immediate outpouring of loving words makes her feel momentarily at peace. She reflects on the boy she really likes but thinks she can be engaged to Gary for a while without marrying him. He drops her back at her house. Gary notices as he drives away that she’s left the ring in his cup holder.

Kismet rushes into the house to tell her mother that Gary proposed. Crystal is unexcited and senses her daughter’s ambivalence. Kismet asks her what love feels like and suggests that she is in love. Crystal’s own feelings about love are complicated. She and Kismet’s father, Martin, are separating when Kismet finishes high school. She pushes thoughts of Martin aside and broods about Kismet’s news.

Gary’s mother is worried that the chemicals her husband Diz uses in the sugar beet fields will stunt Gary’s growth. The pesticides are known toxins; some will damage bare skin if they are touched. Gary does his best to ignore the danger that pesticides pose. However, Gary has been agitated recently, which is part of why he likes Kismet: She is calming. Gary thinks that it has something to do with her “mysterious” identity. He is white, and she is Anishinaabe.

Kismet goes through a goth phase. Crystal was chagrined, but she tried not to react as Kismet dyed her hair, wore dramatic makeup, adopted an all-black wardrobe, and gave herself stick-and-poke tattoos. When asked, Kismet explained that she didn’t like the way her peers acted, and she wanted to differentiate herself from them. Crystal reflected that she shared her daughter’s opinion on most of the local populace. Kismet wasn’t doing drugs or drinking, so this was a form of rebellion that Crystal could tolerate.

Kismet gets more negative attention for her intelligence than she does for her goth persona. She is sent to the principal for challenging her math teacher, Mr. Speck. While in the principal’s office, she runs into Hugo, one of her classmates. Hugo got himself sent there to be close to Kismet.

Hugo, like Gary, loves Kismet. He is highly intelligent but dislikes school and abruptly refuses to go. His mother, Bev, who owns a bookstore, decides to homeschool him. He researches kissing, and when he kisses Kismet, she comments that though he is only a 9th grader, it’s like he “knows how to kiss” (29).

Hugo works most afternoons at his mother’s bookstore, where he reads most of the books. He is good at his job and helps customers find books they’ll enjoy.

Reading his geology textbook, Hugo contemplates the nature of time. He feels overwhelmed by history, as it is framed by geological time, and thinks about all the changes the Red River Valley has undergone over time. Looking up, he notices Kismet passing by in a car with Gary. She is not smiling, but Hugo wonders why she is with him the day after she and Hugo kissed.

Eric Pavlecky is on the football team with Gary. When Gary comes to him for advice about Kismet, Eric suggests proposing again at a fancy restaurant in Fargo. He is happy for Gary, if a little envious of his relationship with Kismet. Eric, like Gary, is preoccupied with a fateful party this past spring that led to the deaths of several football players. He pushes memories of the party aside by stealing a shot of his father’s whiskey. He doesn’t enjoy drinking, but it helps him forget.

During an ice storm, Crystal’s loads of beets keep freezing to her truck bed. She is tired and grateful for her coworker Dale’s calm presence. During a break, which she spends in the bathroom, she listens to tales of economic woe, financial meltdown, and predictions of another depression on the radio.

Kismet waits tables at Skillet in the Sky, a local restaurant. She tells her friend Stockton, another waitress, about Gary’s proposal. Stockton dislikes Gary and the rest of his football buddies. She advises Kismet to stick to Hugo. He is weird, she admits, but he is also a genius, and Kismet likes him.

Kismet tells Hugo that Gary proposed, but she also spends the afternoon kissing him at the playground. Hugo is smitten.

Officially, Kismet’s father Martin is a traveling actor and arts instructor. However, he does not earn money this way and views himself as a failed actor. He and Crystal are no longer happy together, and he misses the easy banter of their early years. He comes home late to find Kismet and Stockton asleep on the sofa. He quietly creeps past them into the bedroom without waking either girl.

Crystal is tired of Martin, and she is tired of the economic drain that his small acts of overspending place on the family. She is surprised when he shows her a bicycle, which he’s cobbled together from other, broken bicycles for Kismet. She did not think him capable of wielding tools. She’d once thought that there was more to him than met the eye, but after many years together, she realized that there likely was not.

Sensing an impending market crash, Crystal begins to take money out of the various household accounts and hide the cash in their home. She hopes that Martin will not find it.

Gary decides to propose again at a local steakhouse, Pookie’s, instead of in Fargo. While buying a dozen roses, he encounters a surly cashier who says that no one should marry him, reminding him that he is financially dependent on his parents. After dropping off the roses at Pookie’s, he spots Jordan on the road and almost makes a U-turn. Jordan was also at the fateful party, and Gary becomes angry remembering what happened that night.

The second proposal goes badly. Everyone working at the restaurant is openly hostile to Gary, and he believes it is because of that party. Kismet picks up on the charged atmosphere and is uncomfortable. They move from their table to the bar, where the bartender hits Kismet in the eye with the cork from their champagne bottle. She spends the rest of the evening holding a cold steak over the bruise. She asks Gary not to propose again.

Gary has written his feelings down on a scroll of paper, which he hopes to place on top of their dessert. Kismet refuses the dessert, and he is forced to hand her the scroll. She says that she will read it later.

Hugo hopes to get an engineering job in the oil fields. He plans to wear professional clothing and write out his reports in neatly printed script using pens that he’ll keep in his pockets. He’ll buy a car. He’ll drive out west. Hopefully, Kismet will agree to be with him for good.

Crystal owns their home. She purchased it, and Martin’s name is not on the deed. Crystal loves their modest home. She does her best to keep it from falling apart and keeps a small garden.

Hugo purchases a cheap car. There is no title, and he pays cash. He drives Kismet around, and they spend the entire night having sex in the backseat.

Ichor Dumach is Hugo’s father. He is an avid hunter and enjoys preparing lavish meals with wild game. He is thrilled when he sees the 4Runner that Hugo bought, excitedly telling his son that he will help him learn how to fix and maintain it. Hugo informs his parents of his pursuit of online degrees and his intent to find work in the oil fields near Williston. His mother forbids it.

Kismet tries to avoid Gary on Valentine’s Day, but he tricks her into coming over by telling her that he is having a party. When no one else is there, she asks to leave. She agrees to stay, however, when he produces a bottle of peach Schnapps. She drinks because she finds Gary boring and is nervous about college. Once she’s consumed the entire bottle, she agrees to marry Gary.

At work at his mother’s bookstore, Hugo looks up to see Gary walking through the door. Gary requests a manual that will help him understand how to please a woman sexually. Shocking himself, Hugo gives him the name of the best sex manual that they have. As Gary leaves, Hugo wonders if he’s just ruined his chances with Kismet. He accidentally tasers himself with a weapon that his mother keeps behind the counter.

It takes Hugo a while to recover from the tasering. He knows that he must win Kismet away from Gary, but he is not unsure of how. He gets back to work quickly, distracting himself by filling online orders.

Winnie grew up on a farm outside of Tabor. Their family lost the farm due to financial difficulties when she was in high school. Diz’s father purchased the farm for cheap. She married Diz not long after high school, much to the chagrin of her parents. She reflects on this as she drives to the book club at Bev’s store. She cannot stop thinking about the accident. She is grateful that they did not lose Gary, but she knows that she is judged harshly by some of the women in town. She is nervous about book club, but she goes in, trying to hold her head high.

Book club is a social minefield. Winnie is uncomfortable. Crystal is polite but refuses to sit by her. Crystal is happy to see Stockton’s mother Jeniver. The two women share biracial Indigenous and white ancestry, and they have bonded over it. Bev calls the meeting to order. The book is Eat, Pray, Love.

Book club starts. Karleen makes trouble, loudly complaining that Gary is pressuring Kismet to marry him. She says that Gary is wrong for Kismet and notes that after the incident on the river at the party, he hasn’t been charged, but he might be: Kismet doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into. Winnie tries to remain calm and tells everyone that Kismet accepted Gary’s proposal. Crystal stands up and tells her that there is no way that her daughter said yes, and she will never marry Gary.

A bank in West Fargo is robbed by a man so adorable that he is dubbed the “Cutie Pie Bandit.”

Winnie hopes to make Gary and Kismet’s wedding perfect, an evening to remember.

Crystal asks Kismet if she is engaged. Kismet says that she is not, but that she might have had too much Schnapps and given Gary the wrong impression. Her mother brings up college and Gary’s generally tedious nature. Kismet sighs and tells her mother that she will call it off.

Hugo reiterates his plan to get an engineering job in the oil fields. Again, his parents express their displeasure. He remains resolute. He must get a job, he must be successful, and he must marry Kismet.