57 pages • 1 hour read
Dusti Bowling24 Hours In Nowhere
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 19-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary: “Sunday—11:00 AM”
Acting on Mayor Handsome’s advice, the group follows a wash back toward town. At first, they run, eager for Rossi to make the race on time. However, the intense heat soon slows them to a walk. They joke around to distract themselves from the intense conditions. Soon, their water supply is exhausted, and they douse themselves with the lake water to keep cool.
Finally, they see the Nowhere Market and Ostrich Farm. As they walk into town, they bump into Bo and Jacob Asher. They hand Bo his piece of gold and ask that he turn over Loretta. However, Bo is suspicious that their haul is much larger and demands two pieces of gold instead. Furious, Gus and Rossi consider attacking Bo. Before they can move, Matthew speaks up and confirms Bo’s suspicions. Gus and Rossi criticize Matthew for his cowardice. However, they soon realize that Matthew is playing Bo, as he describes the bag of fake jewels that Gus brought home from Disneyland. Convinced that the jewels were really discovered in the mine, Bo agrees to ride to Gus’s trailer with Loretta in tow.
Gus and Rossi run to Gus’s trailer. Grandma is watching TV and hardly notices their entrance. Gus transfers the fake jewels to the old leather bag, stashing the gold in his bedside table. He and Rossi meet Bo, Matthew, and Jacob outside. As promised, Bo has brought Loretta.
Bo accepts the jewels and agrees to hand over Loretta. However, before he hands over the bike, he flashes a pocketknife and slashes Loretta’s tires. Matthew stands up for Rossi, and Bo turns away in disgust. Leaving Matthew behind, Bo and Jacob ride off.
Rossi, defeated, inspects the damage. Realizing that Loretta can’t be repaired in time, Matthew offers his bike to Rossi; he won’t be able to race, but he’s glad to offer Rossi the chance. Gus assures Rossi that she’s a great rider, no matter the bike.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Sunday—12:00 PM”
Matthew and Gus stand at the edge of Racetrack Basin and wait for the race to start. Soon, Bo, Jacob, and Rossi arrive, and Gus offers Rossi some words of encouragement. Before she speeds off, Rossi calls to Bo and teases him that both the gold and the jewels are fake. Bo tosses the gold and the jewels in disgust.
After Bo leaves, Gus fishes out the gold from the dirt. When he tries to grab the jewels, Matthew stops him, urging him to leave them behind. Gus hesitates, as the jewels have served as a reminder of his father. However, he ultimately decides to abandon the jewels in the dirt.
The racers line up at the start. Mayor Handsome, who’s officiating the race, blows the starter horn, and the racers take off. Gus and Matthew move around the track for a better view. Bo is currently in the lead, with Rossi trailing behind. Matthew is worried, but Gus assures him that this is part of Rossi’s strategy. In a gesture of friendship, Gus pulls out his great-grandfather’s pocket watch and gives it to Matthew. Matthew, touched, accepts the watch as a present.
As Bo and Rossi enter the final lap, Rossi speeds up, aiming to pass Bo. Jacob, in third place, is about a quarter lap behind. Just as Rossi passes Bo, he grabs her handlebars, aware that only Gus and Matthew are witness to his tricks. Bo squeezes Rossi’s brakes, and Rossi tumbles off the bike and into the dirt. However, Bo, too, loses focus, and he falls off his bike not far from Rossi.
Rossi and Bo struggle to their feet, and Bo mercilessly stomps on her bike. Gus and Matthew watch in horror, unable to help. Rossi takes off her helmet and swings it at Bo, knocking him to the ground. However, before she can mount her bike, Bo grabs her legs and wrestles her away. As they tussle, Jacob rounds the corner, heading straight for a collision.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Sunday—1:00 PM”
Seeing Jacob, Bo and Rossi dive out of the way. Jacob wipes out in the silt. Seizing on the confusion, Rossi jumps back on her bike, albeit with a sprained ankle, dislocated thumb, and two fractured ribs. Bo, too, climbs on his bike. Soon, he overtakes Rossi, blocking her as she tries to edge past him. Recognizing an opportunity, Rossi swerves off into the silt. A dust cloud kicks up around her, and Gus and Matthew run along the basin, hoping for a better view.
Rossi passes back onto the compacted dirt, overtaking Bo. As the dust cloud dissipates, Gus and Matthew follow Rossi to the finish line. They watch as she wins the race and run down to celebrate.
When Bo predictably accuses Rossi of cheating, Matthew and Gus intervene. Bo berates Matthew for supporting Rossi, and Gus steps between them. Then, newly emboldened, Gus cocks his fist and swings at Bo. However, he completely misses, and Bo punches him, breaking his nose. Still, Gus steadies himself and begs Bo for more. As Bo advances, Gus windmills his arms wildly, hoping to deter him.
Before a more serious scuffle can erupt, a voice calls out: It’s Jack, Bo’s older brother, who scolds him for losing to Rossi. Bo trembles in front of Jack, and the two depart. Gus expects that the conflict will resume tomorrow at school, but he’s confident that he can withstand any bullying.
A mysterious man approaches the group and congratulates Rossi on her win. Rossi, who clearly recognizes the man, asks him how he ended up in Nowhere. The man explains that Mayor Handsome, a longtime friend and fellow racing enthusiast, speaks highly of Nowhere’s dirt-bike racing. The man promises Rossi that he’ll see her at the dirt-bike camp, with her new bike ready to go. When he leaves, Rossi reveals that the man is Breaker Bradley, the famous racer and namesake of the camp. After the excitement subsides, Handsome takes the group to the hospital.
Chapter 22 Summary: “Sunday—2:00 PM”
Matthew, Gus, and Rossi wait in the emergency room, sapped of energy. Unexpectedly, Rossi’s dad, Mr. Scott, enters the waiting room and rushes to make sure she’s okay. He explains that when he didn’t find her home the previous night, he assumed that she went over to the Navarros; only when chatting with Mrs. Navarro did he realize that Rossi was missing.
The nurse calls Rossi inside for her exam. In the meantime, Mr. Scott questions Gus and Matthew, surprised to learn that Rossi has made friends. Gus and Matthew confirm that they accompanied Rossi the night before. As Mr. Scott leaves to check on Rossi, Gus reminds him that Rossi still needs his love and attention.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Sunday—3:00 PM”
The doctor examines Gus and confirms that his nose is broken. When the doctor sets the bone, Gus wobbles and vomits on the exam table. The nurse helps Gus clean up, and he leaves to join Rossi and Matthew in the hallway.
Rossi’s ankle and hand are bandaged with tape. She explains that her dad has returned to work. Mrs. Navarro emerges from Jessie’s hospital room and encourages the group to visit. However, she pulls Gus aside, hoping to talk alone. Gus tells Mrs. Navarro the whole story, without embellishment, and Mrs. Navarro confirms that Jessie has remembered the night similarly. Mrs. Navarro warns Gus that she’ll need to inform his grandmother of his hospital stay. She wonders, too, how they’ll manage to afford the mounting hospital bills. However, Gus assures her that he has a plan. Laughing, Mrs. Navarro encourages Gus to join the others in Jessie’s room.
Gus finds Jessie in bed, with Rossi and Matthew at his side. Jessie tells Gus about his amputated pinky toe, and they joke that Jessie now resembles a pirate. Jessie is disappointed that he missed the race, but he’s thrilled to hear that Rossi has won. Suddenly, he bursts into tears, overwhelmed by the day’s events.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Sunday—4:00 PM”
Mrs. Navarro drives the group back to town, stopping at Nowhere Market. Mayor Handsome has awarded the group free popsicles. At first, Rossi, Gus, and Matthew struggle to climb out of the car, utterly exhausted. Eventually, however, they summon the strength and join Jessie outside the market.
Jessie and Mrs. Navarro distribute the free popsicles. Mrs. Navarro leaves for the scrapyard, promising to return in an hour. Alone, the group wonders how their parents will react. Rossi doubts that her father will notice, but Gus imagines otherwise, remembering their conversation at the hospital. Matthew explains that he told his mom he was staying the night with Bo, and Jessie assures him that they’ll maintain his cover.
The group decides to sit together at lunch the next day. They worry that Bo will seek vengeance, though they’re confident that they can withstand him together. A gust of wind blows. Gus quietly marvels at the events of the past 24 hours.
When Jessie and Matthew fall asleep, Gus and Rossi chat privately. Rossi reveals her plan to give Matthew her old bike. She mentions, too, that she hopes to teach Gus how to ride. As the wind intensifies, Rossi remembers the mysterious circle on the cave map, as yet unexplored. She wonders if there’s still gold in the cave, and Gus half-jokingly suggests that they go back to find out.
Rossi thanks Gus for saving her life, and they admit that they’re even. Then, Rossi reveals her real name: Loretta. Gus rests his head on Rossi’s and gazes out at Nowhere. Rossi snores gently beside him. Taking a deep breath, Gus smells rain on the wind.
Chapters 19-24 Analysis
The dirt-bike race is the novel’s climax. While narrating the events of the race, including its setup and aftermath, Bowling explores deceit, cheating, and the rewards of playing fair.
As Gus, Rossi, and Matthew finally emerge from the desert and step into town, they encounter Bo, sitting astride his bike. The group immediately aims to settle their deal, hoping to get Rossi’s bike back. Gus hands over a gold piece to Bo and demands that he hand over the bike. However, the group expects that Bo will keep his word, and Bo has no intention of doing so. Instead of playing fair, he revises the deal and increases the price to “two pieces of gold” (217). Incensed, Rossi tells Bo that he “can’t renege on [his] deal” (217). Notably, Gus interrupts the narrative for a vocabulary lesson: He explains that renege is defined as “go back on a promise or contract” (217). These vocabulary insertions break up the text and draw the readers’ attention toward a pivotal word or phrase. Here, in foregrounding “renege,” Bowling emphasizes the struggle between fairness and cheating that will preoccupy the remainder of the novel.
Bo ignores Rossi’s appeal to decency, and his greed is undeterred. Desperate for a solution, Matthew puts on a clever act: Pretending to side with Bo, he reveals that Gus is hiding a “whole bag” of jewels, likely “worth a lot more than gold” (218). Matthew is referring to Gus’s Disneyland souvenirs, which are made of plastic. These stones are a symbol of Gus’s complicated relationship with his father, but Matthew uses them here to try and beat Bo at his own game. To do so, Matthew abandons honor and decides to lie. He nearly bests Bo, as Bo accepts the jewels and delivers Loretta. At the last moment, however, Bo slashes Loretta’s tires, and everything backfires. Again, Bo goes back on his word and shrugs at complaints that “[he had] made a deal” (221). Though Matthew’s plan is clever, it only lands the group in more trouble. The plan’s failure functions as a warning: In the novel, deceit—in any form and for any reason—is doomed to fail.
This dilemma sets the stage for the novel’s major climax, when Rossi races Bo for a new bike and a trip to Breaker Bradley’s camp. Just as before, Bo refuses to play by the rules: Realizing that Rossi will likely overtake him, Bo grabs her handlebars and causes her to fall. Then, forced from his own bike, Bo stomps on her bike’s wheel, aiming to destroy Rossi’s bike. At this pivotal moment, Gus watches from a distance and wonders if Rossi will meet Bo’s aggressiveness by cheating like him or by trying to win fair and square. He recognizes that Rossi is facing this struggle after a trying day; she has “scaled a mountain of rubble, fought off bats, run from a mountain lion […] and nearly drowned” (232), yet Bo represents her most important challenge. As Gus and Matthew watch and encourage Rossi, they exemplify the theme of Conquering Challenges Through Cooperation.
With Matthew’s failure in mind, Rossi refuses to retaliate. Instead, she limps “back to her bike” (235), injuries and all, and throws herself back into the contest. Ultimately, Rossi deftly navigates the silt, edges past Bo, and beats him to the finish line. Here, Rossi offers a meaningful contrast to Matthew’s failed plan: Whereas Matthew had hoped to out-cheat Bo, Rossi abandons all tricks and leans, instead, on her own superior skill. Notably, Rossi succeeds where Matthew has failed. She successfully defeats Bo and scores both a new bike and a trip to Breaker Bradley’s racing camp. In juxtaposing these two strategies and their wildly different results, Bowling demonstrates a clear preference for fairness, rewarding Rossi for her integrity. Later, when Gus tells Mrs. Navarro about the race, he summarizes Rossi’s win and its aftermath as “justice,” recognizing Rossi’s dedication to fairness.
Not only does Rossi take home the crown, but all the novel’s main characters also end the book on a comparatively happy note—especially when compared to the antagonist, Bo, who is shamed by his older brother and yanked away. Rossi and her dad develop a closer bond, Matthew overcomes his fear of Bo, Gus wins Rossi’s affection, and the bag of gold promises a break in their financial hardship. Though the group’s journey has been tough—and, at times, uncertain—this positive ending emphasizes the value of fairness, honesty, and hard work.
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