Theo meets Hobie and Pippa

Theo Decker, a traumatized thirteen-year-old orphaned by a museum bombing, meets James Hobart (Hobie) and Pippa Blackwell, the niece of the dying man he comforted in the wreckage. This encounter, initiated by Welty Blackwell's ring, leads Theo to a new home and family in Hobie's Greenwich Village antique shop, and to a profound, lifelong connection with Pippa, the red-haired girl he saw moments before the explosion.

The Ring and the Door

Days after the bombing, Theo, living with the Barbour family, remembers the dying man's final words: "Hobart and Blackwell. Ring the green bell." He finds the address in the White Pages and, after a failed phone call, takes the Fifth Avenue bus to West Tenth Street. The shop is closed, but he spots a green flag of electrical tape pasted beneath a button in a narrow doorwell. He rings the bell, and the door is opened by a large, haggard man in a paisley robe: James Hobart, or Hobie. Theo holds out the heavy gold ring with a carved stone. Hobie's face goes slack. "Where did you get this?" he asks. "He gave it to me," Theo says. "He told me to bring it here." Hobie steps back and opens the door. "I'm Hobie," he says. "Come in."

The Shop-Behind-the-Shop

Hobie leads Theo through a workshop filled with the reek of turpentine and varnish, past dismembered chairs and claw-foot tables. Upstairs, in a dim, richly carpeted parlor, the air is stale and heavy, like a house where someone has died. Hobie confirms that Welty Blackwell, his business partner, is dead. Theo learns that Welty was Pippa's uncle and guardian. Hobie, a cabinet maker, treats Theo as a companion, asking about his interests and listening to his stories. He makes Theo a plate of melted cheese on toast, the first normal meal Theo has eaten since his mother's death. This begins a deep, paternal bond; Theo finds in Hobie a safe, steady presence, a stark contrast to the formal Barbour household and his own chaotic past.

The Girl in the Dark

Hobie takes Theo to see Pippa. She is in a dark, perfume-smelling room, her head shaven except for a single lock, with steel medical staples in a coil above one ear. She is smaller than Theo remembers, her face very white. She asks him his favorite piece of music. When he says "Beethoven," she replies, "You look like somebody who would like Beethoven." She remembers his face but not his name. Theo, overwhelmed, reaches out and takes her hand. She doesn't mind. "I think it's nice," she says. They sit in silence, connected by an earbud from her iPod, listening to Palestrina. This quiet, intimate moment, charged with the memory of their shared trauma, forges an unbreakable, wordless bond between them. Theo learns that Pippa's aunt, Margaret Blackwell Pierce, is taking her to Texas to live, a decision that devastates him.

A Kiss and a Departure

Before she leaves, Pippa suddenly sits up and kisses Theo. The kiss, tasting of a morphine lollipop, is bittersweet and strange. "I don't want you to go," she says. "I don't want to, either," he replies. Hobie appears in the doorway, and the moment is broken. As Theo leaves, Aunt Margaret prattles about him visiting Texas, but Theo's loyalty has already shifted. The flavor of Pippa's kiss stays with him all the way back uptown, a "starry ache" that lifts him up. This encounter, born from the ashes of the bombing, establishes the central, unrequited love of Theo's life and his permanent place within Hobie's world, a world of old things, quiet rooms, and the lingering presence of Welty Blackwell.