No Promises In The Wind

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1970

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-11

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Chapters 10-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 10 Summary

Lonnie tells Josh that when he found Joey, he was staying with a couple “in good circumstances” (157) and that the wife, Mrs. Arthur, had taken a strong liking to him. She wanted to keep Joey until he was stronger, but Joey insisted on going with Lonnie because he wanted to be with Josh.

Josh apologizes to Joey for being mean to him. When Joey compares the situation to the time their father turned on Josh, Josh realizes that he should forgive his father.

Mrs. Arthur arranges for Josh to land a job playing the piano at a local restaurant. The restaurant’s manager, Mr. Ericsson, places a printed page in the restaurant’s menus titled “Our Wild Boys of the Road.” The page tells the story of how Josh and Joey left home because their family didn’t have enough food. Josh plays the piano, responding to requests from diners, and Joey sings and plays the banjo. Their act is a hit with the diners.

Despite the boys’ success at the restaurant, both Lonnie and Emily encourage Josh and Joey to return to Chicago to be with their parents. Janey tells Josh that she cares deeply for him but that he should follow Lonnie’s advice. Josh asks Joey if he wants to go home, and Joey responds, “If you do” (174).

For their finale at the restaurant, Josh and Joey perform a Polish song about longing for home. Josh tells the diners, “You people here in Omaha have been kind to us; we’ll never forget you. But we have to go. The ‘Wild Boys of the Road’ have been gone a long time, and tonight they’re homesick” (175).

Chapter 11 Summary

Josh and Janey say their goodbyes. Janey says that she dreads to see Josh leave and that the place will be “haunted” without him. She tells Josh, “[…] I think I love you, but—” (178). Josh holds her hand, and she explains, “[…] maybe it won’t be the same when you find some girl who doesn’t have freckles and—and isn’t a nut—and looks good in earrings” (178).

Josh and Joey have tickets for their train trip home, and they sit on “comfortable green mohair seats” (179)—a stark contrast to when they embarked on their journey as stowaways on a freight train.

The boys’ parents and half-sister greet them at the train station in Chicago. Josh notices that his father is showing the physical effects of a Depression winter: “He had been so big, so strong, and he was now thin and stooped with great hallows in his cheeks. There in his face were the lines of his suffering” (184).

Josh walks up to his father, touches his arm and says, “Hello, Dad. Sure is good to see you again” (184). His father replied, “Hello, Son. […] I’m so glad—so glad—” (184).

Chapters 10-11 Analysis

Josh and Joey grow a lot in these chapters. Their “Wild Boys of the Road” gig, singing and playing piano at the restaurant, helps them heal from both physical and emotional maladies—and also gives Josh the confidence to pursue a career in music, which is evident when the restaurant manager gives him a letter of recommendation and when Josh plans to seek other piano gigs once he returns home. However, they’re both still kids, so when their parents, Lonnie, and Emily all urge them to return to their family, they agree to go back to Chicago.

Josh and Joey’s singing their father’s favorite Polish song as a finale shows that Josh has finally taken Lonnie’s advice to forgive his father. It’s a sign of his maturing, as is the sensible way he handles his relationship with Janey: When they say their goodbyes, they both express their affection but realize that they’re still young and that things could change between them.

Their journey home contrasts starkly with their departure from home at the outset of the story. Everything is different. When they left, they engaged in train hopping and other dangerous practices, they were flat broke, and they improvised to survive. They return as paying passengers comfortably seated on the train, they’ve earned their own money, and they’ve matured by learning valuable lessons during their long journey.