Bat and the Waiting Game

Bat dislikes many aspects of his new after-school schedule, particularly the time away from Thor, his discomfort in new places, and the “inconvenience of being away from […] his perfectly comfortable room” (47). On the other hand, the boy is deeply impressed by the massive, impeccably clean black truck that Israel’s father owns. During the drive to Israel’s house, he asks Mr. Zimmerman, who requests that the boy call him Tom, to tell him all about the vehicle and listens to his responses with rapt attention. Israel is silent the entire ride. When they arrive at Israel’s home, Bat remembers to thank Tom without prompting, and Tom tells him that he’s “a cool kid” (51). Israel’s kitchen is cluttered with stacks of ceramics and pictures, and Bat thinks about how different it looks from his mother’s tidy kitchen and his father’s relatively empty one. Israel asks Bat if he wants a snack or if he’d prefer “to go hang out with [his] dad some more” (53). Not detecting the verbal irony, Bat answers that he would like a snack.

The boys bring their after-school snacks into Israel’s backyard, which is decorated with a multitude of pinwheels, glass ornaments, and wind chimes. Bat finds the scene beautiful but overwhelming and wishes to go home. He tears up and bounces up and down. Israel asks him if he’s all right and then introduces him to his mother, Cora. Cora is a professional artist and made most of the ceramic pieces that decorate the home. She invites Bat to try out the pottery wheel, but he declines because he dislikes the texture of clay. Israel has just begun to make sculptures and says that his work isn’t as good as his mother’s. Bat agrees that his “mother’s stuff is way better” (58), which offends Israel.

When Dr. Tam picks Bat up, he excitedly tells her about Tom’s truck. She brings him home and shows him a dog pen that someone donated to the clinic, which she suggests they use for Thor. Bat wants to set up the pen immediately, but the pieces that hold the sides together are missing. He tries to convince his mother to go back to the clinic and retrieve the missing parts, but she tells him that their errands are done for the day and it’s time to begin their evening routine. He feels an “anxious knot tightening in his chest” (64), and he feels unable to walk away from the problem even though he knows that fixating on it will only make him more upset.

Dr. Tam kneels down beside her son and squeezes his hands, signaling that she can try to help him calm down if he would like that. He accepts, and she squeezes his arms, starting with his wrists and gradually moving up to his shoulders. When she calls him her baby, Bat becomes more agitated because the word reminds him of his responsibilities as Thor’s caretaker, which he feels he’s failing to fulfill by not constructing the pen. He begins making the “high-pitched whine” he emits when he is in distress (66). His mother hugs him until he feels calm enough to stop making the noise and to step away from the pen. Then she suggests that he take a soothing bath.

Bat feels better after taking a warm bath. He, Dr. Tam, and Janie have breakfast for dinner. Bat finds his sister’s preference for runny yolks disgusting, but he decides to overlook it that night. Janie happily tells her family about how she’s working on memorizing her lines and blocking for the play, noting that Bat would be good at those aspects of acting. However, he feels that being on stage in front of people would be “like some kind of punishment” (70).

After dinner, the Tams make hot cocoa and play a card game called Bananafish, which follows the same rules as War. When Bat was younger, he was even more averse to new experiences because he “only liked to do the things [he] already knew how to do” (72). After he repeatedly refused Janie’s pleas to teach him War, she changed the game’s name to Bananafish, and he agreed to play because ‘banana’ and ‘fish’ were two of his favorite words. Bat likes listening to his sister retell the story of the card game’s origins, and he thinks that she was clever to find a solution. He enjoys being together with his mother and sister in their cozy kitchen.

Bat’s father picks him up from school on Friday afternoon. The boy feels disappointed because he wanted to work on the research project with Israel the day before, but Israel spent the afternoon playing a video game and “practically ignored” him (76). He’s also dreading the weekend with his father because Janie has rehearsal and a sleepover and won’t be joining him at Mr. Tam’s apartment.

When Bat’s father says that he has a surprise for him, he hopes that he’ll be allowed to bring Thor to his apartment. Instead, his father announces that he has tickets to a baseball game, which sounds more like a punishment than a reward to Bat. He loathes the lines, crowds, bright lights, and loud noises at the stadium, and he thinks that his father must not understand him, or he wouldn’t keep dragging him to games. Bat’s father loves baseball, and he enthuses about their seats, which are close to the field. After determining that a rain cancellation is unlikely, Bat resigns himself to a long night.