Mike Noonan and Max Devore’s opposition

Mike Noonan and Max Devore’s opposition grows from Devore’s effort to control who may approach his daughter-in-law, Mattie, and granddaughter, Kyra, into Noonan’s deliberate involvement in the custody dispute. What begins as an accusatory phone call becomes a contest over access, legal influence, and the conditions under which Mattie can defend her relationship with Kyra.

The First Confrontation

Devore calls Noonan after learning that he has met Mattie and Kyra. His opening—“I understand you met my daughter-in-law today”—makes clear that he is monitoring their contact; he follows it by saying that he has heard there was an incident. Noonan initially answers cautiously, but the exchange shifts when Devore accuses him of denying what happened and insists that he was seen speaking to the pair.

Noonan confirms that he spoke with a woman and a little girl, then asks whether he is speaking to “the computer Devore.” Once Devore confirms his identity, Noonan refuses to continue under the accusation that he is lying. He ends the call, adding that he had wanted to know whether the Village Cafe was still open and telling Devore that he knows where the man can put his telephone number. The response marks a change from wary politeness to direct defiance: Noonan will not accept Devore’s attempt to summon and interrogate him as though the encounter were already under Devore’s control.

The confrontation leaves Noonan shaken. His hand trembles after he disconnects, and he recognizes that his ability to answer so boldly is partly protected by the money he has in the bank. His resistance is genuine, but the moment also exposes the material difference between a person who can risk angering Devore and someone more economically vulnerable.

From Reluctant Bystander to Participant

Noonan had not intended to become involved in the dispute between Devore and Mattie. After the call, however, the refrigerator letters at Sara Laughs spell out “lp her,” and Noonan moves the letters to read “Help her.” The message coincides with a decision he has already begun to face: although he had decided not to get between Devore and his daughter-in-law, he has ended up between them. He resolves at least to try to help Mattie, turning his opposition to Devore from an angry exchange into action.

Noonan contacts his agent, Harold Oblowski, and asks him to find a lawyer with strong child-custody experience who can take a case immediately and, if needed, appear in court that Friday. He explains that the issue is custody, recounts the events following his Fourth of July encounter with Mattie and Kyra, and identifies Devore as the opposing force. When Harold warns that he is asking for trouble, Noonan accepts that trouble is already unavoidable and says he has decided to dish out some as well.

The decision is not presented as cost-free. Harold points out that legal entanglement may deprive a writer of the peace and quiet needed to work. Noonan does not tell him that he has been unable to write since Jo died, but the choice to intervene nevertheless places the custody case ahead of his isolation and stalled work. His opposition to Devore becomes a way of acting on behalf of another person rather than remaining a spectator.

A Legal Contest Shaped by Unequal Power

The formal conflict reaches Noonan through a subpoena delivered by George Footman, a Castle County deputy sheriff. It requires Noonan to appear in the Castle Rock office of Elmer Durgin at ten o’clock on July 10, 1998, for a deposition concerning his knowledge of Kyra’s well-being. Durgin has been appointed guardian ad litem for Kyra, and the deposition is described as being for the Castle County Superior Court and Judge Noble Rancourt, rather than for either party. The official, court-centered framing does not prevent the proceeding from becoming another point of pressure in the wider struggle.

Footman advises Noonan not to “fuck with Mr. Devore.” Noonan’s sarcastic reply does not conceal how intrusive the encounter feels: he has never been served with legal process before and feels both disgusted and interfered with. The deputy’s warning gives the conflict a local, personal edge; Devore’s influence is conveyed not only through lawyers but also through the confident expectation that others will caution people away from opposing him.

John Storrow, the custody lawyer Noonan consults, explains why the guardian ad litem matters. The appointed lawyer is meant to protect the child’s interests, but the court’s representative also gives the case an influential interpretation: judges are not bound to follow the recommendation, yet they usually do. Storrow notes that rejecting one’s own appointee can make a judge appear foolish. In this account, the court’s assessment of Kyra’s interests is not simply a neutral endpoint; the person appointed to advise the court can shape how those interests are understood.

Noonan relays to Mattie that Devore can hire many lawyers and has sympathetic witnesses, while Richard Osgood is moving around the TR and spreading Devore’s money. The court, by contrast, is not obliged to provide Mattie even an ice cream cone. Storrow’s warning about sexual equality adds another disadvantage: Mattie’s position as a woman may make it easier for Judge Rancourt to take Kyra from her. The imbalance is thus described in practical terms—legal representation, witnesses, money, and the assumptions operating within the custody hearing—not merely as a personal dislike between two men.

Pressure Beyond the Courtroom

The conflict also appears in Mattie’s employment. After Lindy Briggs fires her from the Four Lakes Consolidated Library, Noonan understands the stated explanation of “belt-tightening” as a euphemism. He suspects that Devore, one of the library’s chief supporters over the years, will continue supporting it if Briggs cooperates. The evidence does not establish the details of an explicit instruction from Devore, but Noonan reads the dismissal as consistent with the pressure Storrow had predicted: Devore wants Mattie in as weak a position as possible when the custody case reaches court.

Mattie recalls that Storrow had anticipated Devore trying to ensure she would have to tell the judge she was unemployed. She had believed Briggs would not act so unfairly, especially toward someone who had given a successful talk on Melville’s “Bartleby.” Her loss of work turns the custody struggle into an immediate economic setback as well as a legal one. Noonan acknowledges that they should have anticipated it, while Mattie recognizes that Storrow had.

At a later meeting, Storrow cautions Noonan and Mattie about their communications. They may speak by telephone, but should remember that one or both lines may be tapped; they may meet in the market, and Noonan might visit the local library, but he should no longer go to Mattie’s trailer. The instructions show how thoroughly the dispute has altered their ordinary contact. Even routine meetings and calls must be considered in light of surveillance and the risk of furnishing Devore with an advantage.

Continuing Stakes

The conflict’s consequences extend beyond the immediate contest over custody. Later, Noonan describes the State of Maine court system and the Department of Human Services as slow, despite the decency of many individual workers. He feels trapped in a process reminiscent of Bleak House, where, as he recounts Dickens’s point, lawyers are the only winners. He says he is regarded as an especially untrustworthy figure—a middle-aged, unmarried white man—and that Kyra has been in two foster-home situations since Mattie died. The passage shows the long reach of the custody struggle while also making clear that its later circumstances cannot be reduced to the original confrontation between Noonan and Devore.

Across these episodes, Devore’s power is associated with money, access, and the ability to make opposition costly; Noonan’s response is to accept involvement, secure legal help, and stand with Mattie. The conflict does not make Noonan a neutral observer or promise an uncomplicated victory. It establishes a sustained opposition in which Kyra’s welfare is the stated focus, while the adults’ resources and the institutions around them help determine whose account and interests receive weight.