Crenshaw

Jackson asserts that he is “not an imaginary friend kind of guy” (7). He likes facts, especially surprising ones, and wants to be an animal scientist when he grows up. His friend, Marisol, shares his passion. The two have started a dog-walking service and enjoy trading facts while walking the dogs.

Jackson likes facts because they are true, while stories are lies. He notes that, though he had his “Crenshaw phase,” he has never “been much into make-believe stuff” (9). He recalls his parents taking him to the mall to see the Easter Bunny. When it was his turn to pose with the bunny, he pulled off its paw, saw a man’s hand inside, and shouted, “This man is not a rabbit!” (10). The mall manager made his family leave, without the free candy basket and photo the other children received. Jackson names this as the first time he discovered “people don’t always like to hear the truth” (10).

After the incident with the Easter Bunny, his parents become worried that Jackson has no imagination and is too serious and grown-up. They ask Jackson’s grandmother for advice, and she advises them not to worry, since he will inevitably grow out of these traits when he becomes a teenager.

A few hours later, Jackson is at home playing cerealball with his 5-year-old sister, Robin. They invented cerealball when they were hungry but did not have enough food. They pick a target—usually Robin’s T-ball cap—and try to throw a piece of cereal into it. They cannot eat the cereal until they hit the target. Jackson stresses the importance of selecting a target that is far enough away to ensure the food is not eaten too quickly.

When it is his turn to throw, Jackson gets a direct hit. Reaching into the hat for his cereal, he discovers four purple jelly beans, his favorite flavor. Robin claims not to know where they came from and declares, “It’s magic!” (16). After Jackson’s mother, Sara, also denies knowing about them, he wonders if Crenshaw is somehow behind the jelly beans. Sara offers him and Robin some macaroni-and-cheese and an apple to share, then promises to pick up food the following day, after she receives her paycheck.

When she notices that Jackson is not eating his jelly beans, Robin offers to eat them for him, but he explains that he needs to think about them first. Jackson has not told anyone that he saw Crenshaw at the beach and focuses on finding a logical explanation, which is a scientist’s first rule. He considers that he got sunstroke at the beach or is dreaming, but the jelly beans are real. He eats them, determined to find a logical explanation.

Jackson recalls the first time he met Crenshaw three years earlier. The family had been living out of their van and had parked at a rest stop. Jackson was lying in the grass when he spotted a large tuxedo kitten, taller than Jackson, skateboarding through the parking lot. After hopping off his board, he walked toward Jackson on two legs, “like a human,” and asked him if he had any purple jelly beans (22). Jackson had two and shared one with Crenshaw. Jackson introduced himself and asked the cat his name. The cat asked Jackson what he wanted his name to be, and Jackson chose Crenshaw. He could tell the cat was pleased.

Jackson does not know where he came up with the name Crenshaw. He never encountered it through a place name, television show, or book. None of his relatives used the name. His parents were “[s]tarving musicians” who named their son for Tom’s guitar and their daughter for the company that produced Sara’s guitar (26). The children’s middle names came from relatives. Jackson wonders if a “brand-new” name that “wasn’t already used up” would have been better (27). He wonders if he liked the name Crenshaw because it was new, unused, and filled with a sense of possibility.

Jackson reflects on the “weird” nature of memory, comparing it to “a Lego project where you’re missing some of the important pieces” (30). His early childhood experiences are largely lost to him. He can remember getting lost in a grocery store but not that his mother and father were crying and calling his name, which they later told him. He remembers when Robin first came home but not that he wanted to send her back, which his mother claims he did. He remembers feeling happy that Crenshaw liked purple jelly beans but not whether he thought it was weird that a giant cat was speaking to him at a rest stop.