Minor Characters
Jerome
Jerome is the Obscure Object’s older brother. He is obnoxious and annoying, and has a crush on Callie. The two briefly have sex, after which Callie rejects him. When he catches Callie and the Object having sex and tells Callie to leave his sister alone, Callie attacks him.
Mr. Object
Mr. Object is the Obscure Object’s wealthy father. He served in World War II, and can be inferred to have issues with alcohol (due to the fact that he drinks and drives with Callie in the car on the way to Petoskey).
Mrs. Object
Mrs. Object is the Obscure Object’s mother.
Beulah
Beulah is the Obscure Object’s family’s maid.
Clementine Stark
Clementine is Callie’s neighbor on Middlesex Boulevard in Grosse Pointe when she is a young girl. The two girls become friends and sexually experiment with each other. However, Clementine’s father then dies and she and her mother move away.
Carmen
Carmen is a trans woman who works with Zora and Cal as a performer at Sixty-Niners. She is saving up for gender confirmation surgery.
Bob Presto
Bob Presto is the owner of Sixty-Niners club. A slightly sketchy man, he nonetheless takes care of Cal after picking him up as a hitchhiker on the way to San Francisco.
Wilhelmina
Wilhelmina is Bob’s girlfriend.
Mr. da Silva
Mr. da Silva is the teacher of Callie’s Advanced English class. Originally from Brazil, he has visited Greece and encourages Callie to embrace her Greek identity.
Maxine Grossinger
Maxine Grossinger is
Callie’s neighbor and another girl in
Mr. da Silva’s advanced English class. She is the only Jewish student at Baker & Inglis. She dies of a brain aneurism onstage in the class’ production of
Antigone.
Hettie Grossinger
Hettie is Maxine’s mother.
Sam Grossinger
Sam is Maxine’s father.
Sophie Sassoon
Sophie is a member of the Detroit Greek community and owns a salon where Callie gets her mustache waxed.
Meg
Meg is Chapter Eleven’s Marxist girlfriend, whom he meets at college.
Morrison
Morrison is a black man who lives across the street from the Zebra Room. He is killed by the military during the 1967 race riots.
Sister Wanda
Sister Wanda is a member of the Nation of Islam who hires Desdemona.
Matt
Matt is a young homeless man and Deadhead (follower of the Grateful Dead) whom Cal meets in San Francisco. They become friends and live in the park together.
Ben Scheer
Ben Scheer is a sophisticated, bohemian gay man who picks Cal up as a hitchhiker and attempts to have sex with him.
Ed
Ed is a barber in Scranton, Pennsylvania who cuts off Cal’s long hair.
Dr. Bauer
Dr. Bauer is a gynecologist who Tessie tries to take Callie to see. The Obscure Object describes him as a “pervert.”
Mr. Go
Mr. Go is a patron of Sixty-Niners.
Peter Takakis (“Uncle Pete”)
Uncle Pete is a friend of the Stephanides family in Detroit. He is a chiropractor.
Socrates
Soctrates is one of Zoë and Father Mike’s children, and is thus Cal’s cousin.
Plato
Plato is one of Zoë and Father Mike’s children.
Aristotle
Aristotle is one of Zoë and Father Mike’s children.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra is one of Zoë and Father Mike’s children.
Euphrosyne Stephanides
Euphrosyne was Lefty and Desdemona’s mother, and thus Cal’s great-grandmother. She lived and died in Bithynios.
Lucille Kafkalis
Lucille is an unattractive young woman who is one of the only two marriageable women in Bithynios. Desdemona attempts to set her up with Lefty.
Victoria Pappas
Victoria is the other eligible woman in Bithynios. She is also unattractive.
General Hajienestis
General Hajienestis is the leader of the Greek army in Smyrna. He ends up choosing to abandon the city.
Mustafa Kemal Pasha
Mustafa Kemal Pasha is the Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish Army during the invasion of Smyrna. He later becomes the first president of Turkey, changing his last name to Atatürk.
Henry Ford
Henry Ford is the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and is one of the most famous businessmen in history.
Father Stylianopoulos
Father Stylianopoulos is a priest at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Detroit.
Gaia Vasilakis
Gaia is a young woman whom Desdemona unsuccessfully tries to set up with Milton.
Mrs. Evelyn Watson
Mrs. Evelyn Watson is Sourmelina’s girlfriend. They live together in New Mexico until Evelyn’s death.
Marius Wyxzewixard Challouehliczilczese Grimes
Marius is a patron of the Zebra Room and a member of the Black Power Movement. He is fond of Callie, but Milton thinks of him as a “troublemaker” and bans Callie from talking to him.