Previous

Kenny Watson lives with his family in Flint, Michigan, in 1963. His older brother Byron is always getting into trouble. His younger sister Joetta (Joey) is well-mannered. Kenny has a difficult time making friends, because he is intelligent, likes to read, and has a lazy eye. The weather is particularly cold, and Kenny’s family has to wear their winter clothes and coats inside the house. While Kenny and Byron are supposed to be scraping ice off the family car, called the “Brown Bomber,” Byron gets his lips stuck to the side mirror. Kenny’s mother (Momma) pulls Byron free while his father (Dad) is doubled over with laughter.

While Kenny is riding the bus to school, two new boys get picked up. They are wearing ragged clothes and have Southern accents. Larry Dunn, the head bully in Kenny’s school (apart from Byron), makes fun of the new kids for the way they talk. The older of the new boys, Rufus, is in Kenny’s class and is assigned the desk next to Kenny. Kenny shares his lunch with Rufus and they become friends. They play with Kenny’s plastic dinosaurs, and Kenny’s mother packs extra lunch for Kenny to share with Rufus (and Rufus’s younger brother). 

Kenny’s mother buys two pairs of gloves each winter for each of the three kids. Kenny gives his first pair to Rufus, who does not have gloves, and wears his second pair. At school, his second pair is stolen by Larry Dunn. Kenny tells Byron, and Byron gets the gloves back from Larry and makes Larry run into a chain link fence repeatedly. Kenny feels bad and wishes he would have just let Larry keep the gloves.

On several occasions, Byron gets caught lighting things on fire. Momma holds him down and tries to burn his fingers as punishment, but Joey intervenes, crying. Momma leaves Byron to be punished by Dad but is increasingly frustrated by Byron’s behavior. Later, Byron is throwing cookies at birds and kills one. Byron is immediately upset and throws up. Kenny is confused that someone so mean could feel guilty. When Byron comes home with a “process,” having straightened and bleached his hair, Dad shaves his head. 

After a phone call with Grandma Sands, Momma’s mother, Dad starts buying supplies for the Brown Bomber. One of the items is a dash-mounted record player. The family members each take turns playing their favorite records in the car and Momma tells them that they are all going to drive for three days and visit Grandma Sands in Birmingham. They are going to leave Byron with Grandma Sands in Birmingham for the summer, and if his behavior does not improve, they are going to leave him there for the school year. Byron becomes upset.

Dad drives through the night, only stopping at rest stops and gas stations. The darkness of the Appalachian Mountains scares Kenny and Byron. Dad becomes rather odd from lack of sleep, but the Watsons arrive in Birmingham the next day. Grandma Sands comes out to meet the family and tells them that she now lives with a man named Mr. Robert. Kenny expects Grandma Sands to have a battle with Byron, but Byron seems to be already defeated when he meets her.

Mr. Robert shows the boys good fishing spots. Byron, Joey ,and Kenny are warned not to go to Collier’s Landing. Byron and Joey follow the rules and head to the public swimming area, but Kenny ignores the warning signs and goes to Collier’s Landing by himself. A sign states that six children have died there, but he wades in anyway. When Kenny goes too deep, he is unable to swim back to shore. He thinks that he sees a gray figure with no face grab his ankle and try to drown him. Byron comes and fights the gray figure and saves Kenny. 

Kenny is exhausted the next day. He sees Joey go off to Sunday school in a white dress. While Kenny is sitting under a tree, there is a loud explosion. Someone has bombed the church where Joey is. Kenny runs to the church and sees the damage that the bomb has done. There are two young girls lying in the grass, but neither are Joey. Kenny walks into the church and sees a shoe sticking out from the rubble. He pulls it off and sees the gray figure from Collier’s Landing. He runs home, believing that the creature from the lake has taken Joey. When Joey comes home and tries to talk to Kenny, he thinks that the monster is just letting her say goodbye. 

The Watsons return to Flint that night. Everyone is scared about what happened. Kenny shuts down emotionally and starts spending all his time hiding behind the couch. Byron starts sleeping on the couch at night to keep him company. After several days, Byron confronts Kenny. When Kenny says that he feels guilty that he did not fight the gray figure in the church, Byron tells Kenny that he is actually brave: Momma, Dad and Byron were not willing to go in the church to look for Joey. Byron shows that he cares for Kenny and convinces him to start living his life again. 

Previous section Epilogue

Take a Study Break