Highly Illogical Behavior

Back at Valerie Reed’s office to remove a cavity, Lisa puts the next part of her plan into motion. She requires some semblance of Valerie’s trust, but “This wasn’t her usual demeanor. She was more of a pragmatic know-it-all with control issues, but she was smart enough to know that you catch more flies with honey, so this cheery, inquisitive version of herself seemed like the best way to charm Dr. Reed” (30). She asks Valerie to pass on a letter to Solomon, and Valerie agrees, almost “like she wasn’t surprised at all that Lisa had written it” (32).

While Clark and Lisa are hanging out doing homework, Lisa asks Clark where his teammates are, suddenly aware of how much time he has been spending with her and not with his friends. Clark’s response that his friends just talk about beer and sex makes Lisa reconsider how close Clark truly is with his friends, but before she can think more on it the conversation pivots to college. She decides to tell Clark the truth about Solomon, and while Clark seems shocked and disturbed by the idea, Lisa knows he won’t try to stop her. Lisa recognizes how weird it might seem to have written Solomon a letter passed through his mother, “[b]ut she also knew that there were a lot of people in the world who regretted never doing the things they felt were right because they were afraid of seeming strange or crazy” (36). Lisa is adamant that she will pursue her experiment with Solomon, and confident that she will, and indeed must, succeed. 

Solomon reads Lisa’s letter in which she confesses that she has been thinking about him since the fountain incident and is thrilled to have run into his mom. Taking it as a sign, Lisa is confident—according to her letter—that she and Solomon will be friends. Solomon’s friendship with Grant dissipated, and Solomon has no other evidence to prove that a friendship with Lisa could be different. Because hasn’t truly had a friend, Solomon is concerned that he doesn’t know how to be a friend in return. Solomon believes that “he didn’t fit in when he was in school, so how would he feel now, around someone whose life is out there where he’s nothing but an alien? What he feared most was that all this hiding had made it impossible for him to ever be found again” (39). His fear of building a relationship is compounded by the fact that Lisa is a total stranger to him, and the letter itself is a strange way of someone inserting themselves into another person’s life.

Solomon revisits the television show Star Trek: The Next Generation for some guidance. He relates the most to the character Data “who, as an android, lived just on the edge of humanity” (41). This time, watching Data for advice, Solomon realizes that the idea of Lisa’s friendship scares him because “he didn’t want to be treated just as different as he was” (42). Solomon’s beloved grandmother visits for dinner that night, and he is sure she’ll help him decide about inviting Lisa over to the house. His grandmother, a fun and exuberant woman, encourages him to be open to Lisa, advising him to “Do something different just to see what happens” (44). While discussing the possibility of Lisa, Solomon’s grandma opens his computer and sees his internet research on pools. Thrilled to tears at the prospect that her grandson is contemplating movement outside of the house, she makes a deal to convince his parents to build the best pool in Upland if he gives Lisa’s friendship a try.

Suddenly, the phone rings and it is—for the first time in many years—for Solomon. Lisa is on the phone, talkative and energetic. She wants to confirm the reception of her letter and Solomon, out of practice in conversation, abruptly invites her to the house on Wednesday. Lisa excitedly tells him to focus on the potential for fun instead of how awkward the situation is, and Solomon takes a break in the bathroom to avoid a panic attack before going to tell his family. When he goes downstairs, he finds that his grandmother has revealed his secret desire for a pool. He affirms with a nod that Lisa will be over, and the family believes this is a major turning point for Solomon.