Johnny

Johnny is the dead older brother of Chico (Edward May) in the embedded story "Stud City," a figure whose violent death at Oxford Plains Speedway becomes the emotional and psychological center of the narrative. Though he never appears alive in the present tense of the story, his memory pervades every scene: the room he once occupied, the Dodge he left behind, the song he used to sing, and the secret he shared with Chico about his stepmother Virginia. Johnny's death is not a clean, distant fact but a wound that Chico reopens with every memory, every glance at the abandoned car, and every confrontation with the woman Johnny could not escape.

Identity and Background

Johnny is the older brother of Chico and Billy May, and the stepson of Virginia, whom their father Sam May married after the boys' mother was no longer in the picture. A family photograph taken less than a month after the wedding shows Johnny as a high-school-age boy holding the infant Billy, alongside a grammar-school-age Chico, their father, and Virginia, whose face is described as "sleepy, indecipherable." Johnny worked the summer before his death at Oxford Plains Speedway, changing tires on stock cars, and he owned a Dodge that he and Chico worked on together, listening to WLAM from Lewiston. Johnny had also been offered steady work at Gates Mills & Weaving on the night shift, which paid better than the Speedway, but he chose the Speedway instead—a decision that, Chico later understands, was driven by a need to avoid being home alone with Virginia.

Life and Plot Trajectory

Johnny's life is presented entirely through Chico's memories and reflections. In the present of "Stud City," Chico stands at the window of the room that used to be Johnny's, looking out at Johnny's Dodge up on blocks, its detired wheels "sticking out like stumps." Chico remembers times he and Johnny worked on the car, listening to the radio, and how Johnny would sometimes give him a beer and say, "She gonna run fast, Chico. She gonna eat up everything on this road from Gates Falls to Castle Rock. Wait till we get that Hearst shifter in her!" But that was then, and this is now. Johnny died when a car—a Ford Mustang—went out of control at the Speedway, skidded across the infield toward the pit area where Johnny was changing the back tires on a Chevy Charger-class stocker. Some guys shouted at him to look out, but Johnny never heard them. One of the guys who shouted was his brother Chico. The Mustang struck Johnny even as he tried to get to his feet, and then came "the yellow shout of flame." Chico later tells Jane that Johnny is "in the Army," a lie he cannot fully explain even to himself, but the truth is that Johnny is dead, burned and crushed.

Key Actions and Objectives

Johnny's key actions are all in the past and are revealed through Chico's memory: he worked on his Dodge, he sang "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" by Rolf Harris, and he made a crucial, unspoken decision about his employment. Chico recalls that Johnny could have had steady work at Gates Mills & Weaving on the night shift, but that would have meant being home alone with Virginia during the day, while their father worked. Johnny told Chico, "I can't stop and she won't let me try. Yeah, I know what it would do to him. But she's … she just won't stop and it's like I can't stop … she's always at me, you know what I mean, you've seen her, Billy's too young to understand, but you've seen her …" So Johnny went to work at the Speedway, telling their father it was because he could get parts for the Dodge on the cheap. That choice led directly to his death: he was changing a tire when the Mustang came skidding across the infield. Chico's bitter conclusion is that "his stepmother had killed his brother."

Relationships and Conflict

Johnny's central relationship is with his stepmother Virginia, and it is defined by a secret, coercive sexual dynamic that Chico knows about but cannot prove. Johnny told Chico that Virginia "just won't stop" and that he "can't stop" either, and that the walls of the house were too thin for privacy. Chico sees Virginia's calm brown eyes and understands the unspoken threat: "You could hurt me if you wanted to … I know you know what was going on before he died. But that's the only way you can hurt me, isn't it, Chico? And only then if your father believed you. And if he believed you, it would kill him." Johnny's relationship with his father Sam May is not directly shown, but Sam's grief is evident: after Johnny died, Sam "got smaller," and Chico thinks that his father's marriage to Virginia and Johnny's death have diminished him. Johnny's relationship with Chico is one of older-brother mentorship and shared secrets, but also of a burden passed on: Chico inherits Johnny's room, his car, and the knowledge of what Virginia did.

Change and Ending

Johnny's death is the fixed point around which the entire story revolves. He does not change; he is already dead. But his death changes everything for Chico. Chico's lie to Jane that Johnny is in the Army, his obsessive return to the memory of the accident, his hatred of Virginia, and his plan to fix up Johnny's Dodge and drive to California are all reactions to the loss. The story ends with Chico driving away from a violent argument with his father, vomiting on the roadside as the memory of Johnny's death overwhelms him: the smell of rubber, the knobs of Johnny's spine casting crescent shadows on his white tee-shirt, the sight of Johnny getting halfway up from his squat when the Mustang hit him, "squashing him between it and the Chevy," the hollow bang as the Chevy came off its jacks, and then "the bright yellow flare of flame, the rich smell of gasoline." Chico's final thought is of Johnny's Dodge, which he spares "one last look" before creeping up the road toward Gates Falls.

Narrative Role and Evaluation

Johnny functions as the absent center of "Stud City," a character whose death is not a plot event but a condition of the story's emotional landscape. He is the brother whose room Chico now occupies, whose car Chico plans to restore, and whose fate Chico cannot stop reliving. The story's title, "Stud City," is a phrase Johnny used to sing, from the song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down," and Chico repeats it throughout the narrative as a kind of ironic, grieving mantra. Johnny's death also serves as the story's hidden revelation: the reason Chico hates Virginia, the reason he lies about Johnny being in the Army, and the reason he feels trapped in a house where the closet door might swing open to reveal Johnny's charred and blackened body whispering, "Get out of my room, Chico. And if you lay a hand on my Dodge, I'll fuckin kill you. Got it?" Johnny is both a beloved memory and a haunting presence, and his death is the wound that the story cannot heal.