Fish in a Tree

Ally invites Albert to sit with her and Keisha at lunch. During lunch, he quickly drinks his chocolate milk, and Keisha asks why he doesn’t buy two cartons. Albert explains that he is on a prepaid lunch plan because his parents have very little money. His dad works as an inventor rather than holding a stable job.

Shay teases their group of three, calling them “the Island of Misfit Toys” (93). Albert responds with a humorous yet logically sound explanation of why none of the toys are actually misfits. He explains, “The Charlie-in-the box […] is just like a Jack-in-the-box in every way but his name. Something is not a misfit simply because it has a different name” (94).

Albert’s words lead Ally to contemplate the difference between exterior “labels” and what’s inside a person “People act like the words ‘slow reader’ tell them everything that’s inside […] There’s got to be more to me than just a kid who can’t read well” (95).

The chapter begins with Keisha slumping down into her chair, annoyed that Mr. Daniels has asked her to redo a paper he knows she can improve upon.

Ally remembers the Friday activity with the numbered boxes. She reflects on how good it felt to excel in a class exercise. Thus, Ally sets out to test Mr. Daniels and see if he will tell her she can do better on her assignment. She brings him a paper with “a bunch of letters together that […] make no sense” (97). After looking over the paper, he offers no judgment and simply tells her to put it in the assignment cubby.

At lunch, Keisha asks Albert about the Flint shirt he wears every day. Albert explains that he owns five identical shirts and that “Flint” is the name of his favorite character from Star Trek. He describes Flint as an alien who goes away to his own planet with no other lifeforms, building robots to keep him company. He identifies with Flint’s intelligence and his sense of alienation, noting that far too often, people are “not kind” (100).

Ally invites Keisha and Albert to the diner where her mother works for ice cream. Albert confides that Mr. Daniels has been asking him about the bruises he has all over his arms. The bruises come from a group of younger boys who beat him up every day on his way home from school. He doesn’t believe in violence, so he refuses to fight back.

Albert asks Ally why Shay is especially unkind to her. Ally explains that Shay was jealous of her when she won the art award last year. She then elaborates that on her second day of school, she was assigned to sit next to Shay during lunch, and she mistakenly thought that Shay ate some of her cheese crackers. In retaliation, Ally swiped a piece of cake from Shay’s lunch and ate it. Ally later realized, however, that she still had her own crackers in her pocket and that she had provoked Shay for no real reason. Keisha thinks Ally’s story is hilarious and tells her, “I think I may love you for that” (107).

Travis takes Ally out for a ride in an old junk car he fixed up. Though he is proud of the car, it is strange looking, and Ally must pull a rope attached to the wipers whenever they need to clean the windshield. When they stop at a red light, Ally notices that Shay and her horrified mother are in the car next to theirs.

When Shay and Jessica tease Ally about her brother’s car the next day, Ally tries to brush off their words as Albert would do. She becomes agitated, however, when they direct their criticism toward Travis himself. Mr. Daniels calls her to his desk and responds sympathetically when she explains the source of her anger, advising her to “walk away next time” (113). She reflects that she is “getting awfully tired of walking away” (113).