Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

On October 8th, Steven writes in his English journal about how when Jeffrey was born, his grandfather told him that from now on it would be his job to be the baby’s protector. Now that Jeffrey has cancer, he feels as if he has somehow failed as his brother’s protector. After quoting this journal entry, Steven recounts what happened the evening of the day they first learned that Jeffrey has cancer. Since Jeffrey’s diagnosis reveals that he has been sick for a while, the family feels guilty for not noticing that Jeffrey has been limping and complaining about his “parts” hurting for some time. Steven’s mom explains that the next step will be for her to take Jeffrey to Philadelphia for some medical tests for most of the next week. Steven protests that Jeffrey shouldn’t be missing so much school: “If he misses two days of kindergarten in a row, he’ll probably miss, like, a whole letter of the alphabet. And what if it’s a vowel? Then he’ll have a huge problem with reading. He’ll read, ‘The fat cat sat,’ but he’ll think it says, ‘The ft ct st’” (42). When Steven then asks how his mom will be able to miss work, his parents tell him that she has quit her job so that she can take care of Jeffrey full time.