The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle

Mason and Calvin are in the crumbledown drinking banana shakes when Shayleen comes out of her room jumping and screaming. The UPS truck is coming. Grandma and Mason think it’s a waste; only Uncle Drum likes to see Shayleen happy. Mason goes out to get the box, which is very light. He pretends it is heavy, huffing and puffing to trick Shayleen, who doesn’t even remember what she ordered. He pretends to throw it, and she screams. Calvin laughs. Finally, Mason puts the box down, and Shayleen yells at him. Mason apologizes to Calvin for the fuss. Calvin replies, “the rest of you have a low hum about you. Peaceful. Kind of like a funeral home.” (65). 

Mason shows Calvin the laundry chute in his house, and Calvin is fascinated. He starts looking up things about house architecture. They play a joke, talking through the chute to Grandma in the kitchen. Calvin notices Mason prefers to be outside, while he prefers to be inside. They joke about their differences, and how it might be about their sizes. Then Mason shows Calvin two acrostic poems he wrote, one with his name and one with Benny’s. Mason tells Calvin about Benny; not how he died, but that he is dead and that Lt. Baird still talks to him about Benny’s death. Mason shares a secret worry of his, “You should know. There has been a lot of bad luck. Around me. Like, it follows me. I think” (70). Calvin says he doesn’t believe in curses like that. 

In the SWOOF, Mason talks about the new part of his life. For the last three days, Calvin has been coming to his house. Calvin even called Mason his friend to his parents. Mason is shocked by this. He is even more shocked that, on a day they didn’t have to run from bullies, Calvin wanted to walk with Mason to his house: “And Calvin walked home with me anyway. He just wanted to. With me” (73). Annalissetta interrupts Mason, and as Mason talks to her, the Dragon records their conversation. Annalissetta laughs. Ms. Blinny reminds Annalissetta to give Mason privacy. Annalissetta agrees and scoots off down the hall. 

Matt Drinker and his friends pelt Mason and Calvin with apples. They run and hide behind the porch railing, using the chair as a shield. The boys call Calvin and Mason names, and Calvin shouts a name back. The apples keep coming, until suddenly there is a pause. Another boy comes down with Moonie, asking Matt if he wants to play lacrosse. Matt comes out from behind the trees and starts throwing apples again, and Calvin and Mason run inside with Moonie, who has to dodge the apples too. Once inside, Shayleen comes storming out onto the porch screaming at the boys to stop. They run away. Shayleen gives Mason a hard time for having apples thrown at him, which causes Calvin to mock Shayleen. Uncle Drum ignores them all, scratching Moonie behind the ears. 

Mason and Calvin go upstairs with Moonie until the bullies start playing lacrosse. Mason thinks about how he wants to build another fort, and remembers Benny, “I have an ache to be making a plan and hammering on boards again. Like I did with Benny. We made our own place to be” (81). Finally, the boys go outside and hang out with Moonie in the yard. Calvin notices a funny shape in the slope by the house and sticks his hand in some brambles. He fishes around and finds a metal latch. The boys are thrilled, and Mason finds some loppers in the shed to clear the brambles. It’s hard work. Mason’s handsaw, which he used to build the fort with Benny, has been missing since the investigation. Mason works hard to clear the brambles, but they can’t get the door open by the time dark comes. Matt Drinker surprises both boys; he has come for Moonie. He leashes the dog up and drags him down the hill, which makes Mason squirm. 

At dinner, Mason can’t stop thinking about the door. He tells the table that he found something in the back of the house. Uncle Drum calls it the root cellar. Grandma says no one has used it since the 1960s, but it used to hold all kinds of canned fruits and pickled vegetables. They both give him permission to use the cellar however he wants. Shayleen yells at Mason not to stab her with his fork and to wash up before dinner. The phone rings—it is Matt Drinker. He asks Mason to come over to watch Moonie while his mom is at a meeting. Mason knows what this really means: “Moonie does not need a dog-sitter when someone is home. This is Matt Drinker being scared to be alone” (90). Mason agrees to go, knowing that Matt will be a totally different person than he is around other boys. 

Mason and Calvin are in the rain, working on the door. Mason pulls and pulls, but it won’t budge. Finally, with a thump, the door swings open. Mason and Calvin grab a flashlight and begin to explore. The room is about the size of a few closets. Mason hits his head on a low beam. The room reminds Mason of the caves in Lascaux he heard about on Garrison Keillor’s radio show. He and Calvin look at pictures of the caves for inspiration.