Bluefish

Velveeta genuinely thinks it’s cool that Travis is learning to read, and she wasn’t lying to him. Velveeta’s mom came to Calvin’s trailer crying because she feels Velveeta would rather hang out alone in a dead person’s trailer than spend time with her mother. Her mother’s words make Velveeta feel guilty. Her mom asked her not to go to school the following day so they could spend time together. Velveeta wonders how she got enrolled in school in the first place. She remembers Calvin teaching her spelling and multiplication. Velveeta’s mom called Calvin a “perv” one time, and Velveeta hit her, which made her mom hit her back. She begs Calvin to come back as a ghost.

Travis has learned the five words from McQueen’s list, and although five is not very many, he’s satisfied because he knows five more words than he knew before. McQueen quizzes him on “night,” then also shows him tight and light; to Travis’s delight, he can easily read these words, too, because they’re only one letter off from “night.” McQueen says Travis needs to start doing work in other classes, too. Ms. Gordon can let him use technology that reads the text aloud to him in Social Studies. Travis doesn’t like this idea because it sounds like “a special-ed thing” (109). McQueen says this is nothing to frown about, and Travis needs the extra help for the time being. In third grade, Travis’s teacher tried to get him into special ed, which made Grandpa mad, and nobody ever brought it up again. Instead, Grandpa told him to pay more attention in class. McQueen praises Travis for his progress so far, which makes Travis feel accomplished and that if he works hard, he can learn to read faster and be “regular.”

In Social Studies, Velveeta doesn’t speak to Travis at first, then tells him she actually doesn’t lie that often and genuinely thinks it’s cool that he’s learning to read. At lunch, Bradley sits with them and explains that he actually likes them and isn’t hanging around them for any dubious reasons.

Velveeta invites Travis to the library with her after school and offers to help him with words. In the study room, she says the girl in her book, The Book Thief, Liesel, is really smart and learns to read amazingly. Velveeta quizzes Travis on his current list of words, which he reads easily, so she says he needs something more challenging. She picks other words that are circled in the book, and Travis learns them. Now, he “has” 21 new words that are “all his” (118).

Velveeta is proud that she helped Travis learn new words. She thinks he is really smart.

While Grandpa’s at work Saturday morning, Travis goes for a walk with Haunt Fox and some baloney for the aggressive dog. Travis is disappointed that Grandpa didn’t ask if he learned anything in school yesterday because he wanted to say “yes” for once. However, Grandpa hasn’t spoken to him in a few days, apparently tired of Travis’s typical lack of response to his efforts.

Travis gets to the aggressive dog’s house, and the dog gladly eats the baloney. He asks if the dog wants to go on a walk, but he won’t come. Instead, Travis sits behind a large rock in the dog’s driveway and works on his list of words until the dog’s owner, an older woman, comes out to get the mail. Travis hides so she doesn’t see him. The dog’s name is Larry.

On the way home, Travis stops by the library to see Velveeta, but she’s already left. He runs into Bradley, who says he wants to ask Velveeta to an upcoming school dance if it’s okay with Travis. Travis doesn’t answer, so Bradley says he’s going to do it. Bradley’s decision secretly makes Travis upset.

Yesterday, Velveeta returned home from work to find Jimmy’s truck in the driveway. She went inside to change out of her clothes, which were wet from rain. Jimmy was drunk and crying in their mom’s lap. Velveeta’s mom looked angry at her for interrupting, so she went to Calvin’s trailer and stayed overnight. Nobody came to check on her. Velveeta wonders if Travis has nice parents like Bradley and if she could move into his house.

Travis performs his list of words for McQueen, who says he gets an “A” for Reading. The new list is all types of trees that appear in Haunt Fox. McQueen is impressed that Travis knows what these types of trees are and can identify them. McQueen assigns Travis to draw each type of tree and label it with the word. When Velveeta learns about this assignment in first period, she makes drawings of different animals and labels them underneath for Travis.

At lunch, Velveeta tells Bradley to sit with his other friends so she can talk to Travis about The Book Thief, where Liesel’s reading helps save the day. While they’re throwing their trash away, Travis admires Velveeta’s scarf and wants to touch her hair but doesn’t. She turns around and bumps into him; he drops his tray, and everyone stares.

After school, Velveeta tells Travis that Bradley asked her to the dance. She said she’d consider it. She invites Travis to the library with her to work on reading. He doesn’t feel like it, but he goes anyway because he wants to be around Velveeta. She notices that the first paragraph no longer has any circled words, so she asks Travis to read it out loud. He gets frustrated because the paragraph looks like a jumble, and Velveeta scolds him for not “trying,” which upsets him, so he leaves, once again feeling like a “bluefish.”

Velveeta was already mad at Travis before they went to the library because he acted like he didn’t care when she told him about Bradley asking her to attend the dance with him. She also thought he was going to touch her hair at lunch, which suggested he had a crush on her. Now, she thinks Travis will never like her romantically.

Jimmy came for dinner, so Velveeta spent the night at Calvin’s trailer again. The power went out, so she couldn’t watch movies. Now, the power’s back on, but Velveeta refuses to leave the trailer until Jimmy’s truck disappears.

Travis feels discouraged because Grandpa has stopped cooking, buying groceries, and asking Travis about school. Travis also thought he could change for the better, but now he thinks he’s still a bluefish. Velveeta isn’t at school. Travis tells McQueen he’s discouraged because he tried to read a full paragraph and got overwhelmed. McQueen says this was too big of a jump, and Travis is still making good progress.

When Travis gets home, he asks Grandpa why he’s not at work, points out that they’re out of food, and accuses Grandpa of not caring about him. Grandpa says he’s been looking after Travis for 10 years, so he clearly cares. The previous summer, Travis overheard Grandpa telling someone named Dave that Travis got dumped on him against his will. Travis says it’s not his fault Grandpa inherited him. Grandpa says this is true, but it is Travis’s fault for acting so ungrateful. Grandpa puts some ketchup on a cracker and shoves it in Travis’s face. Travis smacks the cracker away, then punches Grandpa. Grandpa falls down and asks Travis if hitting him made him feel better. It did not. Grandpa leaves.

Velveeta watches To Kill a Mockingbird, which makes her miss Calvin because he was a good guardian like Atticus in the movie. Someone arrives—it’s Sylvia, Calvin’s daughter. She asks who Velveeta is and how she got inside. Velveeta gives her the key. Sylvia is angry and tells Velveeta to leave, so she does.