52 pages • 1 hour read
Carl DeukerRunner
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 10-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 10 Summary
In early December, Chance finds a peculiar envelope in the rocks. In the corner, there’s a series of numbers. The 7s have a line in the middle, and the 1s have loops. As a group of women joggers approaches, Chance stuffs the envelope in the backpack.
He goes to the library and researches salmon, seals, dams, and pollution. He writes for 20 minutes, but the final product sounds like a school report, not a captivating article. He rips it up and throws it away.
Consumed by the envelope, Chance returns to the utility room to inspect it, but the envelope is gone. Outside, a black Mercedes speeds by him. Chance tells himself it was likely just a teen valet working for an expensive restaurant—no big deal.
Part 2, Chapter 11 Summary
At the next newspaper meeting, only Chance shows up, so Melissa stresses. Chance tells her about his uninspiring writing. Melissa says Annie has not written anything, while Natasha is too busy studying for the SAT to write. Only Thomas has submitted writing, and his article is about Lincoln High sports. Melissa thought the newspaper could help her get into Stanford, but it looks like it won’t happen.
Chance and Melissa go for a walk, and Chance puts his arm around her as they admire the boats from a distance. Still thinking about the newspaper, Melissa says her dad believes there’s smuggling on the waterfront. If Chance sees something, he could write about it. Chance replies that if law enforcement can’t catch smugglers, then he likely won’t be able to spot them.
Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary
With the extra money, Chance goes to Little Coney on Saturday morning for breakfast. He buys a newspaper for his dad, and there’s a headline about the death of two soldiers. The “fat guy” appears and summons Chance to his office. For an extra $100 a month, Chance can keep different packages in his boat. Eventually, someone will contact him and get them.
Chance asks for $200 more and threatens to go to the police. The man grabs Chance—this isn’t a poker game with high school students. If they mess up, they could get murdered. The people they’re dealing with make the “fat man” look like Mother Teresa. Chances realize he’s out of his “league.” He must proceed carefully and leave the operation as soon as he can.
Part 2, Chapter 13 Summary
On Christmas Eve, Chance’s dad assembles a Christmas tree out of hemlock branches, and Chance wishes his dad didn’t do something special. On Christmas, Chance gives his dad a book about exploring Antarctica, and Chance’s dad gives him high-tech gloves to keep his hands warm while he runs.
The father and son go to a waterfront restaurant and order New York steak. Chance’s dad has a job at Ballard Bicycles, and if they make him a full-time employee, he wants Chance to quit his job. His dad wasn’t “born yesterday.” He sees the “wad of bills,” and he doesn’t like what his son does.
Part 2, Chapter 14 Summary
Chance thought the winter would empty the beach and make it easier to look for packages, but he was wrong. Winter brings “winter beach people” looking for things like herons and starfish. As a precaution, Chance starts running closer to nighttime when the beach is less crowded. The new packages feel like Play-Doh, and Chance keeps them in a secret storage place behind his dad’s medals and American flag.
On the first day back from winter break, Melissa puts out her newspaper, and Chance notices people flipping through it. He congratulates Melissa, and she promises the next edition will be better.
At night, Chance and his dad try to watch a basketball game on TV, but the wind disrupts the reception. His dad goes for a walk, and Chance makes a suspicious face, so his dad assures him that he’s only going for a walk.
Part 2, Chapter 15 Summary
In Arnold’s class, they discuss the color alerts for terror threats. Brian Mitchell says terrorists wouldn’t want to blow up a place in the Northwest, but Arnold mentions Ahmed Ressam, who tried to come into Port Angeles on a ferry from Canada on New Year’s Eve in 1999. The police discovered explosives in his car. They thought he wanted to blow up the Space Needle, but his target was the Los Angeles International Airport.
As the students discuss terrorism and the Middle East, Chance thinks about his dad. The bike shop won’t hire him full-time. They go to Little Coney and drink hot chocolate and coffee while “Here Comes the Sun” (1969) by the Beatles plays. Chance tells his dad about the discussion in Arnold’s class, and his dad calls the terror color system a “load of crap.” If he were a terrorist, he’d blow up Ballard Locks on the first day of boating season—it’d wreck tourism and shipping, and it’d kill lots of people. His dad doesn’t think such an attack will happen, but no one thought September 11 would take place.
Part 2, Chapter 16 Summary
On a cold day in January, Chance finds Melissa looking around the rocks. She asks him about the rats and what he’s really looking for. She wants him to stop lying. Chance stays evasive and gets her to go.
The next afternoon, the “fat guy” asks about the girl, and Chance tells him she’s from school and maybe she “likes” him. The guy tells Chance to keep Melissa away from “this.” Chance nods—he doesn’t want to involve Melissa. He knows what’s at stake, but she doesn’t.
Part 2, Chapter 17 Summary
Chance finds Melissa at the Blue Note Cafe. There was supposed to be a newspaper meeting, but no one came. Melissa wonders if Chance is in trouble, and he claims he’s not, but if she keeps investigating the beach, he will be. He promises he’ll tell her everything by June. He wants to go for another walk with her, but he can’t. He compares himself to a drowning person: If he reaches out for Melissa, he might pull her under the water.
Part 2, Chapters 10-17 Analysis
The smuggling escalates, and so does Chance’s exposure to danger. The “strange envelope” with a “long string of numbers” (101) perplexes Chance and the reader—both can only guess what’s in the envelope and why the smugglers left it instead of a regular package. As Chance starts to hide the mysterious red packages in his boat, he increases his peril. He’s not storing packages in a locker separate from his home but in his private space. The “fat guy” underscores the volatile situation when he tells Chance, “You think I’m scary, kid? I’m Mother Teresa, that’s who I am, compared to the other people involved in this” (109).
The discussion about the color-coded terror threat system adds to the theme of Paranoia and the Loss of Security. The system implies that there’s always some level of terror in the world, and many people view this constant state of alarm as a means of manufacturing consent for the US government’s militarism abroad and increasing surveillance at home. Chance’s dad says, “That color stuff is a load of crap” (121), implying that government officials manipulate or amplify the danger to bolster their narrative and powers.
When Chance’s dad says he’d blow up Ballard Locks if he were a terrorist, he reinforces Seattle’s penetrability and its symbolism for the vulnerabilities of the United States. Chance’s dad calls such an attack a “disaster for the shipping industry and tourism” (121). Capitalism is key to Seattle’s prosperity and that of the US; for capitalism to operate effectively, people and goods need to move freely. If the mobility slows or stops, the economy and the nation suffer.
The motif of fathers and sons remains fluid. Chance and his father have a pleasant Christmas and exchange gifts before eating New York steak at a restaurant. At dinner, the dad exercises authority: If he gets a full-time job at the bike shop, Chance has to quit his job. Chance’s dad saw the “wad of bills,” and he “wasn’t born yesterday” (113)—he’s aware the world is a troubling place, and he’s suspicious of Chance’s activities. Yet, he demonstrates faith in his son by not demanding that he quit right away. He also acknowledges The Intense Pressure of Money. If Chance quits and the dad doesn’t get hired full-time, they’ll need money again.
As Melissa goes to the maple tree and rocks to inspect the area, she continues to act inadvertently as an antagonist to Chance, exposing herself to danger and him to further peril. To protect Melissa, he pushes her away, stating, “[W]hen you’re barely keeping your own head above the water, you can’t reach out to anybody, because if you do grab hold, you might pull them under with you” (129). The drowning metaphor links the illicit activity to hopelessness—ironic in that it was initially presented to Chance as an Escape from Hopelessness. Like the Tiny Dancer, the smuggling symbolizes precarity and a trap––it’s another predicament Chance must escape.
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By Carl Deuker
