Summary

“Helped” opened as Jack and Olive read in the newspaper that the Larkins’ house had burned down, killing Roger Larkin. His wife, Louise, had been living in the Golden Bridge Rest Home, which Olive said meant she had “gone completely dopey-dope,” (93). The fire started when two drug addicts, believing the house to be empty, attempted to cook meth in the kitchen. They had both made it out alive. Around town, people said that “the Larkins had always thought they were better than others,” and the tragedy brought up some of the family’s history: their son was in prison for stabbing a woman twenty-nine times and their daughter, Suzanne, had not been seen in some time (94).

Suzanne Larkin drove from Boston in the aftermath of the accident, and called her father’s lawyer, Bernie Green, the only remaining person she knew in Crosby. Suzanne...