Previous Next

Part 3

Monday, November 20–Friday, November 24

Summary: Monday, November 20

Paul invites Theresa, Tino, and Henry D. over to work on their science report. It’s the first time Theresa and Tino have seen Paul’s home. Henry D. is dropped off by his brother Wayne, who leaves to spray the neighborhood. Paul shows them his father’s computer, and Theresa marvels at all the formatting options it has for their report. There’s time to spare, so Paul invites them to kick the ball around for a while in the backyard. Paul freezes when he hears Erik and Arthur coming.

Erik, as usual, starts to insult Tino and Theresa. He makes a joke about them being farm laborers. Tino retorts that Erik is a funny man, referring to when Erik fell on the football field. Arthur moves to get the blackjack from his gym bag, but Erik extends his arm toward him, motioning for him to stop. Erik strikes Tino brutally, forcing him to the ground. bleeds from a cut from Erik’s varsity ring. Paul is horrified. As Erik leaves, Erik looks back at Paul, and Paul has the strength to meet his stare. This time, Paul notices fear or sadness in Erik’s eyes. Paul sees something white in the patio door, and he wonders if his father was there the whole time, watching. Wayne arrives to pick up the kids. Paul agonizes over what he could have done to help or should have done differently.

Summary: Tuesday, November 21

It’s unseasonably cold. Paul sits at the table with his father and wonders if he should ask if his father saw what happened in the backyard with Tino and Erik. Paul wonders why he is able to tattle on what happened at the carnival but not on Erik. Paul’s mother decides to take Paul to their storage bin, where their warmer clothing is stored. While at the storage bin, Mrs. Fisher and Paul notice an insecticide smell. Mrs. Fisher accidentally locks her key in the storage bin. She panics but then remembers Erik has a spare key. When Paul asks her why Erik has a key, she says Erik just asked her for one, and if Paul wants one, he can have one too. 

Paul and his mother drive to Erik’s school. Mrs. Fisher says she has to meet with the guidance counselor about Erik because his grades are slipping. She explains his low grades, saying this type of thing happens, but Paul reminds her that he was a star player during the soccer season and his grades never dropped. Paul and his mother have a tense exchange before Mrs. Fisher, exasperated, reminds Paul that she does actually notice him, reminding him that she is the one who “holds it all together” for the family. Paul agrees with her. He knows his father is oblivious and ineffectual.

Paul hides in the bleachers and watches the football practice while waiting for his mother to return from the meeting. He spots Luis’s truck and sees Luis walking onto the field. Luis is there to confront Erik about hitting Tino. Luis tells Erik that if he likes hitting kids, he should hit him. Erik walks over to him, with Arthur trailing behind. Just as they are about to meet, Arthur comes up from behind and strikes Luis on the head with the blackjack. Luis falls to the ground stunned. Erik cruelly comments that Arthur always handles his “light work.” Antoine rushes to Luis’s aid and helps him back to his truck. Paul’s mother returns, and Paul can’t be sure whether she saw what happened. She blithely says that Erik’s counselor thinks Erik’s grades will improve after football season. She thinks the football stardom has gone to his head. Paul knows better, however, that Erik’s behavior is only going to get worse.

Summary: Thursday, November 23, Thanksgiving

Paul’s grandmother calls and says she and Paul’s grandfather are coming to visit for a few hours on their way to Orlando. Mr. Fisher is annoyed that the grandparents don’t plan to see Erik’s game, but he also feels happy to not have to spend much time with them. Paul’s mother decides to return to the storage unit to get more warm clothing for the family. She asks Erik for his key, but he says it’s in his locker at school. When she asks why he left the key at school, Erik explains that he keeps some of his things there. Paul’s mother decides to ask maintenance for a spare key.

At school, Paul notices many of the kids are absent. He asks his friend Henry D. if it’s because they’re too wimpy for the cold weather, but Henry D. says they’re back at home helping their families with their crops. When the temperature gets too low, families are at risk of losing their citrus fruits to frost, so they build bonfires to keep them warm. Paul wants to help the Cruz family fight the freeze. He asks Henry D. to come with him and tells his mother that he’s going to a friend’s house. Henry D.’s brother Wayne comes to pick up Paul and Henry D. to take them to the Cruzes’.

At the plantation, Luis accosts Paul and asks him why he’s there. Paul says he wants to help them with the freeze. Paul, realizing it will be an all-night battle, calls his mother again to tell her he’s been invited to a sleepover. He doesn’t want to concern her. She explains that they’re planning to put on some fake logs and drink cocoa while listening to Christmas music and that Paul will miss out, but she agrees to let him stay. Paul notices that she sounds upset about something else, but he doesn’t ask what. Paul, Tino, and Henry D. go to the Quonset hut, which is now filled with baby trees. They spend the night starting bonfires and watering some of the plants so that they have a protective layer of ice. Henry D. explains that most families have to decide between icing and lighting bonfires. Icing requires lots of diesel fuel, which many families cannot afford.

They continue through the night. At one point, an entire grove is dead, and they use the trees for fuel. Paul works intensely. He thinks about the people at Lake Windsor, inside listening to Christmas music and warming themselves by fake fires. Luis, who has been watching the temperature closely with the others, says he’s about to call the whole effort off if the temperature continues to drop. He sends the kids back into the hut. Paul is given coffee for the first time. His hands are frozen, and he can barely hold the cup. Luis comes back and announces that the temperatures are rising and the remaining trees will be saved.

Paul notices a mark on Luis’s head from the blackjack. He tells Luis he saw everything. Luis is surprised to know he was hit with a blackjack as he didn’t know what he was hit with. Paul, exhausted, goes to sleep. Later, Tino comes in to thank Paul. Paul apologizes for what happened with Erik. Tino says they can be friends, but only at his house. Luis then tells Paul that he should expect something is “going to happen” with Antoine at school on Monday, intimating that they’re going to retaliate, especially because they don’t like Erik or Arthur anyway. Paul is secretly relieved. His mother arrives to pick him up.

Summary: Friday, November 24

Paul sleeps for more than eighteen hours. No one woke him up for Erik’s last game or for Thanksgiving dinner. Paul’s father reads the newspaper. He’s upset about Erik’s game. The Seagulls won, but Erik was made to look like a fool and didn’t make any good plays. Antoine and another player Brian kept the ball away from Erik. Paul knows this is because of what happened with Tino and Luis. Paul looks through the newspaper and sees an article about the new All-County team. He sees a list of names and photos. Shandra’s there, but her photo is missing; it’s just an empty frame. Paul imagines his face in the frame but realizes he’s happy to just have played beside her.  Mr. Fisher asks Paul if he made the All-County team. Angry, Paul accuses him of knowing nothing about him. Mr. Fisher concedes, ashamed, explaining that it’s just been an important year for Erik because he’s about to go to college. Mrs. Fisher interrupts and asks what if Erik doesn’t have what it takes to make it to college. Puzzled, Paul and Mr. Fisher wonder what she means. Just then, Mrs. Fisher receives a call from the neighbor. Apparently, someone has gone around the development community smashing mailboxes, and they’ve spray-painted “Seagulls Suck” on the perimeter walls. Paul goes out to survey the damage. When he sees the spray paint on the wall, he faints. When he wakes up, he realizes he’s had another flashback but can’t remember what it was about. Paul’s father finds him, stiff and unconscious in the road, and he carries Paul home. Back inside, Paul’s parents sit with him, upset and trying to nurse him back to health.

Analysis: Monday, November 20–Friday, November 24

In this section, Erik’s potential for violence, something Paul has always feared, comes to fruition. Erik makes a racially motivated insult to Tino about him being a farm laborer, which sparks a fight between them. Tino nobly defends himself, but Erik brutally knocks him to the ground. The strike is so hard that Paul worries Tino is dead. Erik is several grades above Tino and certainly larger and stronger; this unfair fight shows Erik to be someone who takes advantage of the weak. Erik, who is supposed to be an example in the community as a star football player, is no hero. Instead, he exemplifies the prejudices the middle-class families of Lake Windsor hold of the working-class laborers of Tangerine County and the class divide between the two communities. Earlier, readers received a glimpse into these Lake Windsor attitudes through Joey in his racially motivated comments about Theresa and the kids at Tangerine Middle school being “natives.” Erik perpetuates these stereotypes and uses violence to defend his positions.

At this point in the novel, Paul’s parents become emotionally heightened. Paul’s mother dares to reveal her concern when she wonders aloud if Erik can even get into college, and Paul’s father’s emotional reaction to finding Paul passed out in the road seems exceptionally charged. Paul’s father also admits to not paying attention to Paul, a revelation that seems to cause him shame. Emotional tension builds in the Fisher household and seems to foreshadow the explosion of revelations to come.

The event with Tino sets into motion the rest of the major events of the novel, for Erik’s act of violence is the incident with Tino that will lead to Luis’s involvement and Erik’s eventual downfall. For now, the incident begins to unleash Paul’s memory, which serves as the core plot of the book. Now that Paul has witnessed Erik’s brutality in person, the foundation is laid for the flush of memory that sweeps over Paul later when he sees the spray-painted graffiti “Seagulls Suck” on the perimeter wall of the community. Just as Erik’s character is no longer hidden, Paul’s memories no longer exist in the shadows of his mind. They are surfacing, slowly but surely. Paul will continue to have flashbacks about what happened the day he was blinded, which for now seems to have something to do with Erik and spray paint.

Previous section Thursday, October 5–Friday, November 10 Next section Monday, November 27–Thursday, November 30

Take a Study Break