The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle

“Thinking outside the box is a skill. It means your mind is big and open, Mason. If you can think outside the box, you have no limits!”

Ms. Blinny says this quote to Mason, after she fixes his shirt, so it doesn’t read STOOPID anymore. She says he thinks outside the box, and that his kind of thinking is important, and he should embrace it.

“Some people might think they already know my story. That’s just because they live around here.”

Mason reflects in this passage on his experience living in a small town and experiencing grief and trauma. His family has gone through hardship that is common knowledge, and it changes the way people see him, but he knows he owns his own experience. 

“If we can’t have Benny, well, I guess I am glad the bench is there.”

Mason sits and thinks about memorial benches while riding the bus. He considers how memorial benches offer a place to go to grieve, and how he is happy that in lieu of his friend, he has a place to think about and remember him. 

“Thought that bang was the sound. When the car hit her. But somewhere in these years by brain got it. Bang was about losing her.”

Mason repeats the quote “bing, bang, boom” to describe the loss of his grandfather, mother, and Benny. He reflects on understanding that the sound is not about the physical impact of his mother’s death by a drunk driver, but instead, it’s emotional impact on the family. 

“Pink is the color of the good parts. Best parts. Of life, I mean. Happens only sometimes.”

Mason talks about his ability to see colors when he has certain feelings after he associates pink with Calvin Chumsky. Pink is the color he sees in moments of joy and peace, and he appreciates these rare moments. 

“Tell you what. Calvin sees the best of this old crumbledown.”

Mason shows Calvin his home, which he calls the “crumbledown,” and he is thrilled when Calvin is amazed by the quirkiness of his home. Calvin’s ability to appreciate the house helps Mason recognize that he is a true friend. 

“I am capable. I can do things for myself. So if you help me when I don’t need help, you underestimate me.”

This is a quote from Annalissetta Yang, who has cerebral palsy and uses a walker. She explains to Mason that she can take care of things herself, and she doesn’t want to be looked down upon or under-estimated for her disability. 

“You should know. There has been a lot of bad luck. Around me. Like, it follows me. I think.”

Mason warns Calvin about the bad luck that he believes follows him. He wants to make sure Calvin knows that he might be in danger. But Calvin assures Mason that he isn’t to blame for the bad things that happen to him. 

“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.”

Mason reflects on his desire to make a new fort with Calvin. He recalls the experience of making a tree fort with Benny, and the freedom and peace that he found in his own space. 

“Sometimes there is a better team. But sometimes there is a team that wants it more.”

Mason uses a sports metaphor here to talk about a fight over a Sonotube with Matt Drinker and Lance Pierson. Mason thinks about how he and Calvin are the team with more perseverance, though they aren’t as strong. 

“Still hard to look at that spot. The missing ladder. And Benny at the bottom.” 

Mason walks through the orchard and sees the remnants of the old tree fort. He thinks about how hard it is to see that space, and the memories that it brings. It forces him to relive trauma and recall his grief. 

“I don’t know why I get such a feeling about that animal but it is like he is me. Like if he had come to school he would be the biggest thing in the hallway. Like me. And I feel I am like him too.”

When Mason first sees the aurochs in the murals of the virtual tour of the Caves of Lascaux, he immediately connects with it. It becomes a symbol of his spirit, and he paints it on the walls of the root cellar. 

“I have said it all before. I can’t do it again. I don’t want to see Benny the way I saw him. His neck. Don’t want to remember how it was to try to make him breathe.” 

Mason becomes overwhelmed when Lt. Baird questions him again. He doesn’t want to experience the trauma of that day, or to remember his best friend in that horrible way. 

“I am not sure about the Universe. Because. Well. Some things are gone. Bing. Bang. Boom. So then what is there to say about the stuff the universe takes away?”

Calvin assures Mason that the Universe will always give you what you need, but Mason is skeptical in his response. He wonders about why the Universe would take so much from him and leave him with so much loss. 

“I wanted to let the sad part worm all the way through me. Like getting it over with. Even though it was probably going to take longer than anything else in the world. I thought Andy and Franklin were probably the ones that missed Benny like I did.”

Mason talks about his desire to live within his grief in this passage, after the avoidance of Andy and Franklin. He has a desire to connect to others in his grief, but he cannot achieve that. 

“You just cannot stand it. It is too much like another time. When another friend did not go home for supper. The worry is the most giant kind.” 

Mason speaks in the second person to reflect on the experience of losing Calvin here. He is reliving the trauma of losing Benny and connecting the incidents in his mind. The compounded pain makes his fear much worse.  

“Say what you will. But a person just can’t know what he doesn’t know. And you can’t always see that a bad thing is going to happen before it happens. If you could, no bad would ever come.”

Uncle Drum speaks to Lt. Baird here about his inability to prepare for all pains. Lt. Baird wants someone to be accountable to the bad things that happen in Merrimack, but Uncle Drum explains that no amount of foresight can stop all bad things from happening. 

“Please. Don’t be afraid. Live your big life, Mason! You are not bad luck. You are not stupid or dangerous or any of those things.”

Ms. Blinny reads Mason’s excerpt from the Dragon, and she reassures him in this passage that he isn’t to blame for the bad things that have happened to him. While Mason believes he is bad luck, Ms. Blinny sees that Mason has just experienced misfortune. 

“It is not just the lieutenant who believes all this bad about me.” 

Mason has a crisis near the end of the novel when he realizes that people blame him for Benny’s death. This changes his view of himself and of his community. He no longer feels loved or safe knowing that his reputation is tarnished. 

“It’s nice to know that someone chooses to think the best of you. When they could do just the opposite.”

Grandma says this to Mason when Mason talks about the response the Chumskys have to Calvin’s accident. Grandma reminds Mason that perspective is intangible and can be skewed. It speaks more about the person who believes it than the person about whom something is believed. 

“Good families will help their children accept responsibility.”

This quote from Lt. Baird is about parenting and the responsibility of parents to teach their children how to take blame and understand their role in conflict. He talks about the Drinkers and the Pierson’s, who are defending their sons from the repercussions of their actions. 

“We’ve had hard times. Those kept coming for a while there. We were a bit knocked down. But now we have just gotten ourselves out from under an enormous weight.”

Grandma says this at the family meeting at the end of the novel. She reminds the family that, though they have experienced incredible difficulty and grief, it is time for them to take hold of life again. 

“He says, ‘I forgot who you are, Mason. Franklin too. We are sorry. We got lost in our pain.” 

Andy says this to Mason after the truth about Benny’s death comes out in the newspapers. Andy is finally able to process some of his grief and pain, and he apologizes to Mason for the way his grief isolated him and caused him to treat Mason poorly.