No More Dead Dogs

Since joining the Dead Mangoes, Mr. Fogelman has made a concerted effort to be more mellow and relaxed. He smiles more and wears different clothing, which prompts his students to notice a change in him. He even comes to realize Wallace isn’t so bad.

As opening night grows closer, the show starts falling into place, despite a 24-hour stomach bug making the rounds, technical difficulties, and a broken skylight in the gym that causes rain to leak on the set. Trudi prints a poster for the show that says the tickets are sold out. She and Rachel argue how that’s misleading, and Mr. Fogelman advises them to stay mellow, ending the chapter with the memo to “follow your own advice” (137).

Rachel has decided to stop hating Wallace and appreciate the changes to the play. She runs to school early one morning to pick up an updated script, only to find someone stole the paper shredder from the office, shredded the scripts, and dumped the paper strips on the stage. Amidst the pile, the students find the paper shredder and Wallace’s football jersey.

Wallace enters rehearsal, and the cast turns on him. They can’t believe he sabotaged them while helping them. Wallace maintains he didn’t shred the scripts or do any of the other things to disrupt the show, but no one believes him. Mr. Fogelman bans Wallace from rehearsal and tells him not to come to the performance. Instead of the shocked gasp Rachel expects, there’s a collective sigh that sounds like “the wind moaning through the trees outside a haunted house” (141). Wallace makes a final suggestion that Old Shep lives at the end, and then he leaves.

At lunch, Rachel and Trudi discuss Wallace. Trudi is certain Wallace destroyed the scripts, but Rachel isn’t sure. At dinner, Dylan expresses his hope that Wallace will go back to the football team, but Rachel doesn’t think he’ll do that either. After dinner, Rachel goes for a walk and finds herself at Wallace’s house. Wallace’s mom is frantic with worry and sends Rachel upstairs to talk to Wallace. Rachel explains that she wants to help. Wallace yells at her because she’s been against him being part of the play since the beginning, and he blames Rachel for the cast turning against him. Rachel runs away, crying.

One afternoon, Rachel brings Wallace’s jersey to football practice. The team ignores her until she accidentally catches the ball and scores a touchdown. She demands information about the jersey and the destruction to the play, but no one answers her except Cavanaugh. He tells Rachel to just ask Wallace if he’s guilty. When Rachel argues he’ll say no even if he is, Cavanaugh laughs and informs Rachel that Wallace “wouldn’t tell a lie to save his own mother from bloodthirsty cannibals” (150). Rachel doesn’t believe him until he tells her that Wallace used to be his best friend.