Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie

“Looking back on those days now, I’d have eaten the Dangerous Pie if I could have stopped October from happening.” 

At the beginning of the year, Steven sees the “Dangerous Pie incident” as an example of how annoying his little brother can be since Jeffrey mixes his “dangerous pie” with Steven’s “Special Sticks” signed by his drum hero, Carter Beauford. Now that he has watched Jeffrey struggle with cancer, Steven realizes that he would eat the disgusting mixture if it meant he could keep Jeffrey from becoming sick. “Dangerous pie” thus represents what Steven is willing to do to protect his little brother.

“Lately, Jeffrey had been complaining a lot that his ‘parts hurt,’ which we hadn’t been understanding too well.” 

Before Jeffrey falls and hits his nose, he tells Steven that he isn’t feeling well and that he needs some oatmeal to “warm up his parts” (15). After Jeffrey is diagnosed with leukemia, Steven and his parents feel guilty for not taking Jeffrey’s complaints about his “parts” hurting more seriously or realizing that something was seriously wrong before his bad nosebleed.

“And this was the absolute worst thing about last October 7th, the one moment I’ll never forgive myself for: When my mother began to tell me that my baby brother had leukemia, my first thought was relief.” 

After Jeffrey falls and has to be taken the E.R., Steven spends the school day worrying that he will get in trouble for not watching his brother closely enough while he was sitting on the stool in the kitchen. Consequently, he is initially relieved to learn that Jeffrey’s illness was not caused by the fall and that he won’t get in trouble.