Rules

Surpassing her feeling of relief and escape, once in Kristi’s room, Catherine is awed, saying, “Kristi’s room looks like a page from a catalog” (90). The girls lie on Kristi’s bed and talk about teen magazine idols. In talking about their families, Kristi points out that her parents are not divorced but only separated. Soon Kristi brings up the topic of boyfriends, briefly discussing Ryan before asking if Catherine is allowed to date. Kristi suggests that Catherine ask Jason out on a date.

Catherine is thrilled as she walks through Kristi’s house, not only because it is so neatly, fashionably arranged, but more so because there are none of the protective arrangements Catherine’s family uses to control David’s incursions. The girls go outside and play basketball until Catherine’s father arrives with David.

Catherine’s sense of elation is deflated when her mother tells her that Jason missed her. She instantly feels guilty for skipping David’s therapy session to get to know Kristi. Catherine’s dad overhears the exchange and asks who Jason is, adding embarrassment to Catherine’s guilt. Catherine’s mother says Jason sent her something, which turns out to be carrots for her guinea pigs, Cinnamon and Nutmeg.

To say thanks for the carrots, Catherine brings Nutmeg to the clinic on Tuesday and lets Jason hold her. She inserts several more refined word cards for his communication book and puts her headphones on him, playing her favorite CD. For the first time, Jason makes a joke, using the word card “Joke” that she has just given him. Nutmeg eats part of his “Goodbye” word card. Catherine decides that Jason needs many more cards and asks her mother if they can buy colored pencils and a paper cutter.

Coming home from the mall with new art supplies and card stock to make words for Jason, Catherine’s mother again expresses concern that Catherine has not signed up to participate in any community activities, saying “I hate to see you spending your whole summer doing nothing” (105). Arriving at home, Catherine sees Ryan playing basketball with Kristi in her driveway. David gets out of the car and runs toward them. Catherine’s mother tells her she will take her things into the house and that David should stay with Catherine and the other kids. Catherine thinks, “I’m torn between all losing choices. David will scream if I make him go inside now. Mom’ll think I’m selfish if I beg her to take him with her. Then there’s Ryan” (106-107). As Catherine feared, Ryan teases David with an empty gum wrapper. Catherine loses her temper and screams at Ryan to get out of her yard. She takes David into the house and watches Ryan and Kristi standing in the yard talking.

Catherine is criticized by her mother for the way she handles David’s apology for causing the ruckus. Catherine goes to her room in a huff and begins to make words for Jason that deal with conflict and hurt feelings. After she is emotionally spent, David comes into her room and asks for help with another cassette tape.

Catherine sits in the clinic waiting room with words she made for Jason. Inside, she wrestles with her conflicted feelings about David. She worries that the topics of the cards she created for Jason are too much about her own troubles. As she explains the situation to Jason, he asks to see the “bad words” (115). Catherine explains the concepts behind several of the difficult words and describes the problems she has with Kristi, Ryan, and David.

As their conversation continues, the two express their private painful feelings. To her astonishment and shock, Jason confesses to Catherine that sometimes he wishes he were dead. At her horrified reaction, he commits her to keeping his feelings a secret. He says he feels incomplete. He asks Catherine how it feels to run. She responds by taking him out to the parking lot in his wheelchair and pushing him all the way around faster, until she almost feels as if they were flying. People watch and cheer while Mrs. Morehouse stands at the entrance of the lot to prevent traffic from entering the lot.

As Catherine dreams up new descriptive words for Jason’s communication book, she walks across her lawn to her father working on his tomatoes. She remembers previous occasions as small child when she and her father played together creating sweet, memorable moments in the garden. She asks her father to plan something special during the summer: “I don’t mean Disneyland. Just something, me and you” (126). Her father immediately begins to explain he is too busy with his work for such an excursion.

Planning to go to the pond behind their houses with Kristi, Catherine’s tries to choose the right bathing suit. She measures her suits for acceptability compared to how she assumes Kristi will look. Kristi is reluctant from the outset to swim in the wild pond about which Catherine raves in joyful excitement. The very things Catherine loves about the pond, the temperature extremes, the murky water, and the spongy bottom, all trouble Kristi.

Lying on the floating deck in the middle of the water, Catherine distracts Kristi from her distaste for the pond by telling her the fable of the “Fisherman and His Wife,” and they share what wishes they would ask for if given the chance for a wish to come true. Kristi wishes her parents would happily reunite. Catherine does not voice her wish, which is that David would overcome his autism.

Ryan calls to Kristi from the shore and she dives into the water, swimming to him immediately. When Catherine swims ashore, Kristi tells her about the community dance on Saturday. Despite Kristi’s insistence, Catherine refuses to commit to attending the dance.

Jason appears in the clinic waiting room in a motorized wheelchair. Mrs. Morehouse explains that this is only one of several changes taking place in Jason. She says, “He never wanted a motorized chair before. […] But lately he wants to do lots of things for himself. He’s even doing his hand exercises again” (145-146).

Catherine and Jason travel together to the beach. Catherine clears the way for his wheelchair and walks beside him. Jason searches for words to describe the beauty of the setting. As they approach a wharf, Catherine stoops to tie her shoelace because she recognizes Kristi, who sees Jason but not her. Because she is with Jason, Catherine intentionally does not let Kristi see her.

Together at a bench alongside the beach, Jason tells Catherine that she is pretty and asks if she will come to his birthday party on Saturday. She quickly agrees, believing that will be her excuse for avoiding the community dance.