108 pages • 3 hours read
Barbara Haworth-AttardTheories of Relativity
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
It’s Christmas Eve. Dylan accepts Glen’s offer, and Glen buys Dylan a ticket for later that evening. Dylan nervously asks Glen if he can work off more than the price of the ticket, then clarifies that he would like to get gifts for his brothers. Glen agrees, and they go to the electronics store where Dylan saw a remote-control car. Dylan gets the car for Micha and a CD player for Jordan. Dylan is anxious about how much he’ll owe Glen after Christmas. Before they part, Glen gives Dylan a second CD player, saying it’s a Christmas present for him. Dylan is nearly moved to tears because he’s been carrying around his own stash of CDs without being able to listen to them.
Dylan heads to the youth center. He plans to ask Jenna to come with him to his grandfather’s house. Dylan also plans to test a new theory about Twitch. He joins Amber and Twitch, who looks sick and sits still. The Bandana Kids approach Dylan, but Ainsley shoos them away as she brings over cookies and cider. She tells Twitch that he needs to see a doctor and Amber that she needs to quit smoking. Dylan pulls out his bus ticket and asks Twitch to read it. Twitch says it’s a ticket but cannot be more specific. Dylan is satisfied that he has proven his theory that Twitch can’t read, but Twitch gets angry and tells Dylan to go away.
Dylan walks over to Ainsley. Amber follows him and tells him that it was wrong to embarrass Twitch like that before heading to the washroom. Ainsley agrees with Amber. Dylan asks where Jenna is, but before Ainsley can answer, a policewoman enters and approaches them. She presents a photo of Jenna and asks if they’ve seen her. Ainsley says Jenna hasn’t been there recently, and then she interrogates the officer, asking if they’ve done an investigation into the family or if there are any more children in the home. The policewoman doesn’t have any answers and leaves the center.
Ainsley turns back to her textbook; she’s studying to be a social worker. Ainsley believes the issues Twitch, Jenna, and Amber are facing could be prevented by earlier intervention into the conditions that got them on the streets. She assures Dylan that social workers try their best but their job is big and difficult.
Amber returns and tells Dylan that Jenna is in front of the church for Christmas Eve Mass. When Dylan gets there, he acknowledges the hypocrisy of extravagant churches with beggars out front, thinking that it’s an image as old as the church itself. Jenna is there, looking cold, dirty, and run-down. He tells her he’s going to his grandfather’s and asks if she’ll come with him. Jenna says she can’t leave because she owes Vulture money. Dylan argues that entrapping people is what Vulture does, that she’ll never get out from under him. He says he can exchange his ticket for two tickets, and they’ll go as far as they can, hitchhiking the rest of the way. Jenna reluctantly accepts the offer. They leave the church, and Jenna buys them food with money she earned flashing her boobs at a stranger in an alley.
As they part, they promise to meet up at four o’clock. Dylan sneaks a quick kiss with Jenna and heads out to exchange his ticket.
Chapter 17 Summary
Dylan, having made good money begging outside the mall, treats himself to pizza and a bus ticket to see his brothers. He’s excited to drop off their gifts but sad he won’t be spending Christmas with them. Still, he is comforted knowing that he’ll get to spend Christmas with Jenna and his grandfather.
When he arrives, his mom tries to get him to leave the gifts, but Dylan insists on waiting at the house for his brothers and Dan to return. Inside, he helps himself to soda in the fridge while his mom complains about the issues he almost caused with Dan. Dylan says he’s heading to his grandfather’s house, and she rants about how they never offered to help her financially. She explains that, when Dylan stayed with them, her money from the government stopped. She asked them for money in order for Dylan to see them, and they refused.
Dylan asks about his mom’s parents, whom he’s never met. His mom lights a cigarette—something she’s trying to hide from Dan—and explains that they were “Bible-thumpers” (149) who refused to let her do anything. She explains, “Everything was a sin with them. Dancing, music, smoking, laughing. It was a sin to be alive” (149). As a result, she rebelled. She snuck out, “found the wildest boy in town” (149), and soon became pregnant with Dylan. Her parents refused to help at all, and Dylan’s dad left shortly after.
Dylan’s mom remarks about how his grandparents must not have wanted to see him badly enough because they wouldn’t pay for it. Angered, Dylan heads out, leaving the gifts.
The bus takes a long time to get back to the city, but Dylan makes it with 10 minutes to spare before he’s supposed to meet Jenna. He hesitates to trade in his ticket, wanting to make sure Jenna shows. He paces around the bus station, looking for Jenna until the bus to his grandfather’s town begins boarding. He realizes he knew all along that Jenna wouldn’t show.
Chapter 18 Summary
On the bus to Murdock, Dylan thinks about past Christmases, including memories of drunken fighting and one year when he tried to cook the turkey himself. He hopes Dan works out for the family but admits he would feel useless if Micha and Jordan didn’t need him anymore.
He smells himself and wonders if Jenna didn’t meet him because of his breath; he regrets kissing her. Dylan pulls out his CD player and tries to distract himself with music, but his mind keeps wandering. He examines Glen’s business card, which reveals that Glen is the president of a large technology company. He wonders why Glen is so dedicated to helping street kids. He thinks about his mom’s parents and what they would think of her now.
It snows the entire bus ride, building up in banks around the road. The bus stop in Murdock is a general store. The owner, Jack, begins to shut down the store once Dylan arrives. Dylan asks for directions to his grandfather’s farm and if he can use the phone. Jack reveals that his grandfather isn’t at the farm; he’s been in a nursing home with lung cancer for the past year. Dylan informs Jack of his identity, and Jack remembers Dylan’s grandfather bringing him in as a kid. He offers to give Dylan a ride to the nursing home, and Dylan accepts.
It’s late in the evening when Dylan gets to the nursing home, but he convinces a worker named Miriam to let him in, explaining who he is and that he didn’t know his grandfather was sick. Miriam, who indicates she knew Dylan’s mom in high school, brings Dylan to her office and sits him down. She gives him hot cocoa and gently explains that his grandfather is mostly sedated on morphine for the pain; he isn’t expected to live much longer. She brings Dylan to his grandfather’s room and, upon finding out Dylan has nowhere else to go, allows him to stay the night.
Dylan can hardly believe the man in the bed is his grandfather because of how small and frail he is. He lays his head on the side of the bed and falls asleep.
Chapters 16-18 Analysis
Chapters 16 through 18 show a shift in Dylan’s confidence and demeanor. After accepting help from Glen, Dylan grows bold with his aspirations. He asks for help buying Christmas presents for his brothers, he invites Jenna to Murdock with him, and he even sneaks a kiss with Jenna—something he’d only dreamed of doing. The thought of seeing his grandfather gives Dylan purpose and direction. He knows where he’ll be on Christmas and who he’ll be spending it with. This newfound confidence contributes to the overall idea that street kids just need investment and people who care to help them turn their lives around.
Ainsley is a character who embodies this idea. Her interest in becoming a social worker shows that she believes she can make a difference with the right knowledge and resources at her disposal. In the meantime, as she earns her degree, she does everything in her power to help the kids who frequent the center, advising Amber not to smoke, protecting Dylan from the Bandana Kids, and urging Twitch to see a doctor. Glen, who has considerable wealth through his company, can afford to provide resources and assistance to kids like Dylan not through social work but through job opportunities and community investments. Glen and Ainsley continue to be important characters who provide the kids they meet with means for change.
The theme of religion and hypocrisy is emphasized in these chapters. Dylan’s observation about Jenna in front of the church is a continuation of his prior contempt toward religion, as seen in Chapter 10 during the hospitality dinner. Though he admires the structures built by religion, Dylan recognizes that the church, which touts itself as being about goodwill and Christmas joy, has not really helped anyone on the streets find a better situation. This theme arises again when Dylan speaks to his mom about her parents, who did everything in their power to prevent Dylan’s mom from having a normal life. Their strict rules led to her rebellion, which led to her pregnancy with Dylan. She tells Dylan that they refused to help her once she was pregnant, to which she remarks, “That’s real Christian charity for you” (149). Her contempt for the church mirrors Dylan’s in this way, as they both feel that the actions of Christians do not live up to the values they teach.
Chapter 18’s weather symbolizes the buildup of emotions within Dylan. When he boards the bus, it’s sleeting, and as the bus travels north, the sleet turns to heavy snow that covers everything. His anticipation of seeing his grandfather after all this time heightens as he approaches Murdock, and the weather conditions get snowier and more dangerous. Once Dylan is at the general store, the snow is high, acting as a physical barrier between Dylan and his destination. His grandfather’s illness becomes another, more dire barrier that prevents Dylan from realizing his dream of a Christmas spent together. Once Dylan is at the nursing home, the snow and the darkness keep him there. When Miriam asks if Dylan would like to see his grandfather, he feels the urge to run from the pain, but he cannot because “it’s real dark on the other side of the closed curtains and [he has] nowhere to spend the night” (158). Dylan’s Christmas plans are in ruins, he may never speak to his grandfather again, and he’s in an unfamiliar town with nowhere to go. The snow and darkness both mirror his overwhelming emotions and force him to confront those feelings. He desperately wants to escape the situation, but he has no choice but to face it.
