The Graduation of Jake Moon

Fourteen-year-old Jake Moon opens his story with a scene of shame. Three eighth-grade boys leaving school spot an old man sitting on a Dumpster in the parking lot. Two shout mocking insults. The third stays silent. When the old man notices them, he brightens and waves, calling out a cheerful greeting, clearly confused. Jake reveals the twist: He is the silent third boy, and the old man is his grandfather.

Jake traces his story back to the beginning. His mother leaves college after Jake's father rejects her, moves to Connecticut, and works at a Denny's until she is fired for dumping a pie on a customer's head. She drives infant Jake to her father, Sherman Kelly Moon, a warmhearted man everyone calls Skelly. Skelly volunteers as room mother in Jake's first-grade class, rechristening a timid boy named Thorbert Piddler as "Thor, God of Thunder" and hoisting him onto his shoulders to boost his confidence. In second grade, Skelly helps Jake master three pull-ups through nightly practice. Skelly has a gift for making people believe in themselves.

In third grade, Thor's family moves away. Thor arrives with a framed photo of himself on Skelly's shoulders, but Skelly does not recognize him. That November, Skelly is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, an incurable condition that progressively destroys memory, cognition, and the ability to communicate. His personality shifts: He becomes angry and accusatory, blaming Jake when he misplaces things. One night, Jake finds Skelly alone in his rocking chair, clicking a flashlight on and off to study Thor's photo, trying to remember. Jake climbs into his lap, and they rock together in the dark.

Skelly's condition worsens through Jake's third and fourth grade years. His speech becomes garbled; he conflates stories and names without catching his errors. Jake confronts his mother, then spends the evening watching Skelly, as if vigilance could slow the decline. Jake categorizes the stages of Alzheimer's as sad, sadder, and the saddest thing you've ever seen. Skelly begins placing pajamas in the freezer and wet sheets in the oven. Jake scrambles to hide Skelly's behavior from his best friend, Lucas Carney, even locking the back door during visits. Jake's aunt Marguerite brings a table for Skelly to refinish, and when Jake and his older cousin James fight over carrying it, Skelly grabs the table and hurries down the basement stairs, falling and breaking both wrists. After the casts come off, Skelly refuses to use his hands and swears at Jake for the first time. Four months later, he fails to recognize Jake entirely, asking "Who you?" Skelly eventually settles on believing Jake is Claude Harper, his childhood best friend.

Jake's mother and aunt hire a caregiver named Lanna, but when Lanna begins leaving early, Jake fills in each afternoon. Skelly roams the house at night, hoards canned food, and repeats questions obsessively. After Skelly calls Lucas "Sylvia," Lucas stops calling altogether. Jake's mother signs him up for Little League, but Skelly wanders across the infield during games. In sixth grade, a new friend tells classmates about an embarrassing incident involving Skelly, and a classmate calls Jake's grandfather "a perv." Jake drops out of every activity and declines all invitations so no one will visit his house. By seventh grade, he defines himself as a kid with obligations. When he stays to watch a flag football game, his mother arrives screaming, drags him and a pajama-clad Skelly to the car. Skelly waves innocently. Jake glares at him and, for a moment, feels hatred.

Lanna quits, and the family hires Alma Russell, an eccentric registered nurse from the Senior Center who grew up on the same street as Skelly. Mrs. Russell has an intuitive gift for calming Skelly. She rescues Skelly from the Dumpster in the opening scene; Skelly had been drawn to paint cans left from the gym being repainted. Jake watches the entire incident and does nothing.

Guilt-ridden, Jake joins his mother and Skelly for breakfast at the House of Pancakes. He cuts Skelly's food and wipes his chin, but when he spots two cheerleaders from school, he drops Skelly's hand and hurries past. Skelly sits with a stranger and shouts "Scat!" at her. Jake flees the restaurant. Mrs. Russell finds him there. Jake returns home and sits with Skelly on the porch. When Skelly asks if his mother is coming home, Jake gently tells him no and promises Skelly will stay with him.

With graduation three weeks away, Jake reads The Pearl by John Steinbeck for a book report and sees its downward spiral as a mirror of Skelly's disease. He confronts his mother about Aunt Marguerite's limited involvement. His mother argues that Marguerite's financial contribution keeps Skelly out of a nursing home. Jake, on the verge of tears, declares he is fourteen and serving as caregiver to a man who thinks he is Claude Harper. His mother tells him she carries guilt every day and urges him not to stay bitter. Jake quietly replies that more miserable is hard to imagine.

Then Skelly disappears. Painters outside the Senior Center let him help, and when Mrs. Russell steps inside briefly, he vanishes. Jake searches frantically. The news airs Skelly's photo, but the anchor says he "answers to the name of Sherman Kelly," a name Skelly no longer recognizes. Jake stays awake all night, feeling it would be selfish to sleep while his grandfather wanders in darkness. During the vigil, James shoves Jake and insists he loves Skelly just as much, even if Jake has always been the favorite. On Saturday, police find a painter's hat at the edge of the park lake and send divers down. The family waits in agony until James presses his face to the window and announces with a grin that the divers found nothing.

A cab pulls up with a grocery cart strapped to its roof. The driver, Campbell Burns, finds Skelly pushing the cart near abandoned warehouses and, noticing his Medic Alert necklace, realizes he is not homeless. Campbell gives Jake a water bottle, noting someone along the way kept Skelly hydrated. At the next Family Night, James takes the cart outside so Skelly can push it on his walk. Jake watches from the porch, amazed, as James walks the entire route beside Skelly without embarrassment.

Jake places a graduation invitation in Skelly's hand. Skelly asks "What's this?" repeatedly, but Jake tells him he is coming. On graduation night, a chain of mishaps leaves Skelly unattended. He wanders onto the stage, tries to lift a decorative ladder, and sends books crashing to the floor. Security guards grab him. Frightened, he hides his face in his sleeve and cries. Jake runs onto the stage, speaks calmly, and tells Skelly his name is Claude Harper. Skelly's shoulders relax. Jake puts his arm around his grandfather's waist and walks him to the stairs, where his mother and Aunt Marguerite take over.

Jake returns to his seat and later walks to the stage for his diploma. The principal, Mrs. Rook, holds his hand and tells him he should be proud. James whistles from the audience. In the car afterward, Jake holds Skelly's hand, rolls down the window, and imagines hearing Skelly whisper, "Atta boy, Jake. Atta boy."