The Goldfish Boy

Matthew sends an email to Jake, telling him he needs his help trying to get the fabric out of Nina’s tree. Ten minutes later, Jake replies, agreeing to go into Nina’s yard after dark. Matthew also messages Melody and tells her Jake is on the case, which she thinks is ridiculous. After the emails, Matthew falls asleep and dreams about Teddy. He wakes at three in the morning in a cold sweat. He looks out the window to see if Teddy has appeared, but finds someone else: Mr. Jenkins is smoking a cigarette and eyeing Mr. Charles’s house. Matthew adds Mr. Jenkins to his list of possible suspects.

In the morning, there is an email from Jake: The fabric in Nina’s tree is a tea towel. Matthew cleans for most of the morning, but it does not make him feel better. From his room, he can see his dad outside talking to Mr. Jenkins and Hannah; once he looks up at Matthew’s window and shakes his head.

Matthew considers Mr. Jenkins, the P.E. teacher, to be the worst teacher at his school. He has always been tough on Matthew and Jake. Matthew thinks of the times Mr. Jenkins bullied Jake during school as he watches his parents talk to Hannah and her husband. At some point during the adults’ conversation, Mr. Jenkins turns toward Matthew’s window and grimaces.

Matthew, still observing through his window, gets frustrated when Nigel climbs onto his bed. Unwilling to touch the cat, he emails Melody for help. When she does not answer fast enough, Matthew puts on his sneakers and runs to her house. When she answers the door, she is surprised to see him. Matthew explains that he needs her help getting Nigel off his bed, but she is about to go out with her mother. After a brief interaction with Claudia, Melody reveals that her mother has seen their emails. Claudia wants Melody to go to the police and tell them what she knows about Old Nina. Unable to get Melody’s help, Matthew visits Callum’s gravestone. He speaks to the angel on Callum’s gravestone and expresses how badly he wishes Callum had lived.

When Matthew gets home, he immediately senses that something is off. Upstairs, he finds his dad painting his bedroom walls. Matthew is horrified by the change. When Matthew remembers Wallpaper Lion, the panic sets in. He stops his dad just as he is rolling the paint brush over Wallpaper Lion’s face. The piece of wallpaper falls to the ground. Desperately trying to salvage his companion, Matthew starts to cry. His father cannot understand why he is so upset, and all Matthew can say is “You’ve killed him!” (237). Matthew runs into the bathroom with what is left of Wallpaper Lion and tries to put him back together. Before long, his dad is banging on the door, demanding to know what is the matter, only leaving once Matthew asks to be left alone. Matthew washes his hands 37 times before slipping the scrap of wallpaper into his pocket for safekeeping.

When he comes out of the bathroom, Matthew’s mother is making up a bed for him in the office. He will need to stay there for a couple nights while the paint dries in his room. Sheila tells Matthew that he will be seeing Dr. Rhodes on Monday, that it is time for “a new beginning” (240). Matthew notices the Harrington’s catalog that Gordon brought over. While flicking through it, Matthew notices something strange. On one of the pages, someone has scribbled jagged lines, in some spots so hard the paper is torn. Matthew figures his mother must have “lost her head for a moment and taken her anger out on the catalog” (241). The shame of that thought “seeped into [his] veins and flooded [his] body” (241).

Later that day, Matthew’s dad announces to the house that something is happening at the Rectory. Matthew watches from the office window as the police search Old Nina’s house. After 20 minutes, Detective Bradley emerges from the house; behind him is Nina, and in her arms is a small kitten she has been hiding so as not to get evicted. Detective Bradley glances across the street at Matthew in his window, and Matthew notices that the lamp in Nina’s window is glowing once more.

At dinner—one of the first Matthew has eaten with his parents in a while—Matthew tries to remain calm. Everything is going great, especially when he and his dad get into a laughing fit coming up with paint color names. The mood turns when Matthew comes up with “Soiled Diaper,” which reminds everyone of Teddy. After a few minutes of silence, Matthew announces that he does not plan to see Dr. Rhodes again, which astonishes his parents. The conversation turns into a shouting match, as both parents are disappointed in Matthew for not trying to recover from his OCD. Sheila tells him he is “pulling this family apart” before going outside to cool off with her husband (248). Though Matthew has Wallpaper Lion’s eye in his pocket, he “suddenly felt very, very alone” (248).

Back in the office, Matthew can feel the little black beetle scuttling around in his stomach again. He hears a car drive into the cul-de-sac, and sees Penny getting out of her car, which is odd considering Gordon typically does the driving. Matthew realizes that he has not seen Penny and Gordon together for some time now; they are usually inseparable. Matthew looks back through his daily logs and confirms that Gordon and Penny have not been seen together for days. Farther back in the logs, Matthew notices an entry he wrote when Casey stayed over and told him “the old lady’s got him” (250). Matthew looks over the Harrington’s catalog again and realizes that the scribbles he saw were not his mother’s, but those of a child. Matthew approaches his father and asks for news about Penny and Gordon. Brian reports that the Teddy situation has been stressful for both of them, and that they were planning on going away for a bit. Wanting to investigate further, Matthew makes his way to Penny and Gordon’s.

Outside Penny and Gordon’s house, Matthew inspects their car, looking for signs of Teddy. In the middle of his searching something catches his eye: it is the small, orange bulldozer Penny stole from Mr. Charles’s yard. Shocked, Matthew pushes against the car, accidentally setting of its alarm. Penny appears at her front door, wanting to know what Matthew is doing. He makes up a lie about wanting to check in on her.

Back at home, Matthew finds Detective Bradley’s business card and tries to think of what he might tell him about Penny and Gordon. It was just like the situation with Nina—“I had no solid proof” (255).

Soon after snooping by Penny and Gordon’s, Matthew realizes that he has lost Wallpaper Lion’s eye. He struggles to sleep at night, knowing that his companion is gone. At nearly five in the morning, Matthew hears a gate click shut outside. He looks out the window and sees Teddy Dawson, crying quietly on Mr. Charles’s lawn. Matthew runs outside and embraces the child, noticing how well he looks for being gone for so long. Teddy is delighted to see “Fishy” (258). Matthew scans the houses on the street, takes a step back and shouts, “TEDDY’S BACK!” (258).