Black Swan Green

Jason enjoys a rare day home alone by doing the things he is normally forbidden from doing: messing around in his dad’s office, listening to his sister’s records, and raiding the kitchen for snacks.

Then, spotting a flock of birds out the window, he decides to have his own adventure and follow the estate’s bridle path down to wherever it ends. He stops to enjoy the beauty of a garden and is nearly attacked by three Dobermans and scolded by their owner. Further on, he comes across some of his classmates who are waiting for a fight between Grant Burch and Ross Wilcox. Jason sides with Grant Burch and smokes one of Grant’s cigarettes in solidarity. When Ross arrives, the fight is intense, mostly because there are no adults to step in and stop it. Ross wins when Grant’s wrist is injured, and the onlookers must quickly switch allegiance to Ross’s side or become targets for a fight themselves. Dean Moran provides a handy excuse for Jason to leave, saying they are off to visit his grandmother.

Jason and Moran continue down the bridle path, searching for a third tunnel that supposedly leads through the Malverns. They run through fields, then climb bales of straw and lay atop a barn roof to enjoy the view. Moran confides that his father is abusive when he’s drunk, and there is a moment of awkwardness between them, as each is uncertain where to go with the conversation now that a deep truth has been revealed. Jason falls asleep looking at the sky; when he wakes, Moran is gone.

Continuing on his quest, Jason spots Dawn Madden sitting in a tractor. Although she is by turns fascinating and terrifying, Jason climbs the tractor and talks with her while she whittles an arrow for a bow. Jason’s idealized image of her is partially tarnished by the realization that her family is impoverished, but still they talk for a while. She shows him her knife and splits a pastry with him. They talk suggestively; she feeds him the cherry from her danish off the tip of her arrow, and Jason gets aroused. When she demands payment for the cherry, Jason doesn’t know what she wants and offers her a melted packet of candy. She chases him off. Further down the path, Jason climbs a tree and carves their initials into a tree trunk.

While still in the tree, Jason hears the voices of Tom Yew and Debby Crombie, who spread out a blanket beneath the tree. Figuring it’s too late to say anything, Jason continues to hide while they have sex, wanting to look away but unable to. When they fall asleep, Tom has a horrible dream about his ship, the HMS Coventry, coming under fire, and Debby calms him.

When he can continue down the path, Jason comes upon an abandoned bath tub and spots a body in it: It’s Moran, who has been hiding, trying to scare him. Jason tells him about Tom and Debby but stops short of mentioning sex. Jason and Moran keep walking and encounter a man in a blue smock completely covered by bees. Giving the man a wide berth, they come across a mansion with a large lawn. Jugs of juice are sitting on the terrace, and the boys, thirsty, decide to help themselves. As soon as they drink, people in blue smocks spill out of the mansion, and Jason realizes that they have found the “Malvern Loonybin.” A patient dressed in a nurse’s uniform comes up to Jason, calling him by the wrong name and accusing him of leaving her. When a staff member intervenes, the patient’s cries are so horrible that Jason believes they can be heard down the length of the bridle path.