Highly Illogical Behavior

The invitation for Clark to come over is Lisa’s way of knowing that she has earned Solomon’s total trust. She is confident that Clark will help get Solomon better, because “Clark was one of those guys whose club you want to be in” (108). When she goes to tell Clark about the invitation, Clark is less than thrilled. He doesn’t approve of her experiment and doesn’t want to be asked to lie for her experiment. Lisa assures him that Solomon is genuinely a friend of hers, and that no one but she and Clark have to know about the essay she’ll eventually write.

Clark joins Lisa for her daily visit to Solomon, and when they first meet “Clark extended a hand and Lisa watched as they shook, him standing outside, Solomon standing inside, the divide between their worlds never clearer to her” (111). They join Solomon inside and chat for a while. True to his genial nature, Clark makes jokes that ease Solomon and the three get on well.

When Solomon shows Clark his garage, Clark “slowly turned all the way around […] with this awestruck expression on his face. Solomon had that same look, but not because of the room” (114). Lisa notices that Solomon is quite captivated by Clark, but Lisa knows that Clark has that undeniable charming effect on people. They continue to hang out, and Solomon teaches Clark a board game he has already taught Lisa. Lisa can see that Solomon labors over the instructions with Clark, an implicit desire to not see him go too soon.

The new friends continue to play the game, and Solomon is pleasantly surprised to find how natural their socializing feels. He sees that what feels like a big deal to him—hanging out, playing games—was to them “no big deal […] Which was so perfect—nothing was forced. They were there just to have fun” (118).

After playing for a bit and trading jokes about movies and serial killer TV shows, Lisa says it’s time to say goodbye. Before he can think, Solomon asks what they’re doing tomorrow, and Lisa and Clark plan with him to return the next day. Solomon goes to bed that night struggling through a panic attack, even though he knows the day was a success.

Clark and Lisa come over the next day with DVDs and fresh baked brownies, and Solomon is thrilled at the prospect of having so much time with them. As they eat, Clark asks Solomon if he doesn’t feel like dating anyone, but Solomon thinks to himself that Clark “was probably the closest Solomon was ever going to get to a boyfriend” (124). Solomon tells Clark and Lisa about his former therapists, and the drugs they used to make him take that made him feel rotten. Clark and Lisa are supportive of every thread of the conversations Solomon leads them down, and they spend more hours together, staying up late to watch Saturday Night Live. When Lisa and Clark finally leave for the night, Solomon realizes a new feeling, a desire “to follow them. He wanted to walk outside and follow them into the world” (127). 

Lisa is thrilled that Clark and Solomon are getting along, confident that their new friendship means that everyone gains something in this arrangement she’s concocted. On the car ride back from Solomon’s house, Clark reveals that he’s finished with his former friends, declaring “I’m not like them. And I don’t want to be” (129). Clark feels left out and alone, separated from Lisa. Lisa is determined to keep the experiment on track with Solomon, but Clark reminds her that it shouldn’t be at the deterioration of her other friends.

The next morning, Lisa wakes up to a fight between her mother and Ron. When she goes downstairs, she finds her mother upset and Ron gone for good. To distract her mother from yet another failed marriage, Lisa tells her about Solomon but leaves out the part about the scholarship essay. Lisa’s mother blames Solomon’s parents for allowing him to continue his behavior, but this reaction simply highlights yet another difference between Lisa and her mother.

Lisa goes to her old friend Janis’s workplace at the mall to make amends for ignoring their friendship, and she knows that in order to make Janis feel better she has to tell Janis the whole truth. Janis is appalled, saying that Lisa is the smartest person she knows yet is doing this very wrong thing, “and if you can’t see this then I need to reevaluate a lot of things in my life” (134). Janis pushes Lisa to accept a two-week camp counselor job with her this summer in order to make up for lost hours spent together, and Janis begrudgingly agrees even though she is saving her summer for the experiment with Solomon.

Lisa tries to get Clark to come over to spend some alone time with him, but this time it is his idea to visit Solomon. Clark and Solomon have grown even closer, “[a]nd even though she felt like she’d made a lot of progress over the last month, it seemed like Clark had brought out something new in him […] something less self-conscious and more confident” (137). Lisa and Clark spend some time with Solomon’s family, and it occurs to Lisa that even when they disagree, Solomon and his parents don’t fight like the other families she knows—her own and Clark’s.

Sunday nights with the Reeds turn into a weekly routine for Clark and Lisa, and just when it seems too good to be true, Solomon experiences a panic attack in front of Lisa and Clark. Lisa tries to assist him as she has in the past, but she and Clark are asked to step out of the room while Solomon composes himself. When the episode is over, the friends speak honestly about Solomon’s attacks, and how water calms him. As they dream about the pool being built outside of Solomon’s house, Clark jokes that Lisa is a stickler for sunscreen and Solomon declares that he’s always known that Lisa would save his life someday.