Chick and his sister, Roberta, have maintained their home in Pepperville Beach, keeping it as it was when they were children. Chick is not surprised when he comes home to find the house smelling of “a faint, sweet smell of carpet cleaner” (31). He is more surprised, however, to find the fridge full of food and a dirty dish soaking in the sink. Chick hears his mother’s voice calling his name from the second floor.

When he was six, Chick’s mother made him a mummy costume for a Halloween parade. When it starts to rain, the costume, which is mostly made of toilet paper, begins to fall apart and he is left standing in his pajamas. He remembers with a wince how, as the other children mocked him, he yelled at his mother, “‘You ruined my life!’” (32).

Chick hides on the back porch, terrified by what he has heard. When his mother comes out on the porch to find him, he accepts that, for whatever reason, she is there with him now, and he gives her a hug “as if I’d never let her go” (34). The chapter ends with a memory from when Chick was eight: his mother explains how an echo works, a

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