Summary
Castle is happy at first with his lighter shoes, but he regrets cutting up something his mother paid for, knowing she wouldn’t approve. At school, he limps because of all the running. He also tries to hide the raggedy tops. Luckily Brandon has been suspended and apparently, everyone thinks Castle is a hero for punching him.
His good mood only lasts until social studies, when Shamika sees his shoes and laughs uproariously. The teacher asks what she’s laughing at and she points at his shoes. Castle barely contains his anger and shame until the lunch bell rings. Though he has never skipped class before, Castle runs out the doors of the lunchroom to get away from the situation. He keeps running, fueled by adrenaline, until he comes across Everything Sports. He shyly looks at the track running shoes and asks to try on a silver pair.
After trying the shoes on, Castle watches the sales associate help another customer. He slips the “silver bullets” into his backpack and leaves, saying he will have to come back to get the shoes soon. Once out the door, Castle runs, expecting people to shout or for the police to arrest him. That doesn’t happen, so eventually he slows and goes to Mr. Charles’s store. In the shop, Mr. Charles says his usual line about Castle wanting sunflower seeds. However, he says the bag costs ten dollars (usually it’s a dollar) until Castle tells him why he’s not in school.
Castle explains to the shopkeeper that people laughed at him in class because of his shoes, which he cut down so he could run more easily on the track. Mr. Charles offers him the sunflower seeds for free, and advises Castle to get used to people laughing at him: he says his whole family of over-achievers laugh at him for running a store instead of being a doctor or lawyer like the rest of them.
Because Mr. Charles doesn’t want Castle loitering, Castle offers to help with boxes and restocking. He does this for a while until he accidentally locks himself in the stockroom. He calls out but Mr. Charles is quite deaf and is on the other side of the store watching a cowboy film. Castle panics, feeling like he is drowning in a swimming pool. After what feels like forever, Mr. Charles opens the door, explaining that the “stupid thing gets stuck.” Still panicked, Castle grabs his backpack and runs for the door.
Castle keeps running until he reaches the track, knowing he is late for practice. Once there, Castle wants to explain that he was transported back to his most frightening memory, but there’s no time. He takes out his new silver shoes after confirming there are no police hanging out at the track, waiting for him. Lu notices the shoes, silently seeming to communicate to Castle that they are nice-looking.
Coach Brody informs the newbies that on Thursdays they do a long run, and everyone has to take part in the conditioning exercise. Castle considers how he has barely eaten all day and has also been running so much, but there’s no way out of it. He has the paranoid thought that Coach Brody is punishing him for stealing the shoes, but he knows it’s just a coincidence. After a quick stretch and warmup, the team gets running. Castle keeps up for the first ten minutes, but gradually the distance runners pull ahead and the sprinters fall to the back of the pack.
Castle is shocked when the coach pulls up behind him in his car, honking and shouting through a megaphone. This is what the others meant when they called it the Motivation Mobile. At the end, assistant coach Whit says Sunny did the best, keeping up with her the entire way. People congratulate each other on their performance, including Lu, who congratulates Castle. Castle is surprised, and returns the compliment. Castle learns that on Friday there is a newbie’s dinner, a yearly bonding activity the coach organizes. He will take the new runners out for Chinese food.
At home that night, Castle’s mother has brought home from the hospital cafeteria Castle’s favorite dinner: Salisbury steak. While she is microwaving the food to heat it up, Castle’s mother asks how he is liking track and the coach. Castle says he likes both. His mother says she likes the coach too. Castle is relieved, knowing she trusts few people with her son, like any mother.
After dinner, she puts off her nursing homework to watch a romantic movie while Castle looks through his world records books. Castle is relieved his mother doesn’t ask about his shoes like the coach did in the cab ride home. He thinks about how he lied to Coach Brody, but he could tell the coach didn’t believe him. Castle worries about all the trouble he’s getting himself into.
Analysis
In Chapter 5, Reynolds returns to the theme of shame. Acting on impulse, Castle cuts down his sneakers so they are lighter and can facilitate his track running. However, the cut-up shoes look raggedy and provoke the laughter of a classmate. Full of shame, Castle runs away from school during lunch. Once again, he fails to meet his own promise of good behavior.
Castle continues to act out through misbehavior with his visit to Everything Sports. In a subconscious act of self-sabotage, Castle steals a pair of slick running shoes that will undoubtedly improve his performance on the track but will also jeopardize his ability to stay on the team if his coach or mother were to find out.
Just as he sought refuge with Mr. Charles the night his father “lost it,” Castle next stops in at the “country store.” Knowing he can trust Mr. Charles with at least the partial truth, Castle admits he isn’t in school because he was laughed out of class. Acting as a mentor figure, Mr. Charles relates his own story of adversity, explaining that his family shames him for being an underachiever, when in reality Mr. Charles is content to run his own store. In this exchange, Reynolds builds on the theme of camaraderie.
The theme of trauma arises when Castle becomes accidentally locked in the storage room of Mr. Charles’s store. Because Castle and his mother sought refuge in this same storeroom the night Castle’s father shot at them, Castle’s body re-experiences the panic he felt that night. In this way, Reynolds shows how the post-traumatic stress of a night from three years earlier is liable to resurface and disrupt Castle’s life, even when his father and the threat he poses have been removed from Castle’s immediate context.
With Castle’s second official Defenders practice, Reynolds brings back the theme of humility, as Castle learns that Thursdays are dedicated to a long run. Although he is naturally talented as a sprinter, Castle falls to the back of the pack for the long run, making it clear to him that his endurance skills are lacking. Sunny, the long-limbed newbie who Castle previously laughed at when he saw him lazily sprint, turns out to be the best distance runner. With this scene, Reynolds depicts how a track team comprises athletes who are talented in different facets of the sport, and each person plays their own role.
It is also significant that Lu compliments Castle’s performance at the end of their long run. Despite their head-butting of the past two days, Lu makes an effort to show his admiration and support. As small a gesture as it is, the act of kindness disarms Castle, eliciting a similarly supportive response. Once again, this hints at the growing camaraderie being fostered among the Defenders.
