- Victor thinks that he probably gets over things that hurt faster than most other kids since his stuttering hurts him every single day. He used to try to poke himself with a pin to stop stuttering, but it didn't work and he was tired of bleeding all over the place.
- As he walks the paper route every day, he thinks about what he found in the closet and what it means.
- He feels weird about it because he knows that it means that his father isn't his real father, but he has always felt closer to him than to his mother. He's always loved the guy a lot.
- Learning this does explain one mystery, though—this is why Victor's a much better ball player than his father. They're not biologically related.
- On Friday, Victor's father surprises him and says that he's taking off work in the afternoon so they can have lunch and watch a movie. Victor says this is great, but that they just have to be back by 3:00PM for his paper drop.
- At noon, Victor is sitting outside and waiting when his mother comes to say that his father's running late and that she's going to fix him a sandwich for lunch. They're still going to the movie, though.
- His father finally shows up and they head on over to the movie theater. During the ride, his father tells him that he's proud of Victor for taking over Rat's paper route and that he's super responsible.
- They watch the movie and then hurry back so Victor can start on the paper route. On the ride, Victor asks if boys always look like their fathers; it's obvious that the topic makes his father feel uncomfortable.
- Victor starts his paper route and gets through it in record time, keeping an eye out for Ara T the whole time.
- He has a list of questions for Mr. Spiro about why grown-ups treat him like he's not a real human being, and how he can be smart just like Mr. Spiro. Victor's gone so far as to write them down.
- When he gets to Mr. Spiro's, he asks if they can have a conversation, so they sit down on the porch. Mr. Spiro even gives him a big old glass of lemonade.
- Mr. Spiro starts answering Victor's questions by saying that adults are uncomfortable with themselves, and that's why they don't communicate well with kids.
- Then Mr. Spiro asks him some questions about school and what Victor's parents do. That's when Victor decides to ask him how he can be smart, too.
- Mr. Spiro laughs and tells him to come look inside the house—it's chock-full of books. It's clear that Mr. Spiro does a lot of reading in his spare time.
- Mr. Spiro tells him that there's no right place to start, that Victor can read anything he likes to start learning about anything that interests him. They look through the books a bit and then Victor gets up the courage to ask Mr. Spiro if he has any poetry books.
- Mr. Spiro says that he doesn't read a lot of poetry but that he'd like to overcome his bias. Victor tells him that he wrote a poem—a secret that he's never told to anyone else before.
- Mr. Spiro is impressed and asks him to recite it. Victor knows that he'll stutter, but Mr. Spiro tells him to write it out so that they can read it aloud in unison. Aw.
- Victor types out the poem and then they say the poem aloud without tripping over the words once. It's a poem about Victor's love of words and how he likes books because there is no stuttering in books.
- When they're done, Mr. Spiro tells him that it's a wonderful poem and that he's honored that Victor decided to share it with him. It makes Victor feel good.
- Then Mr. Spiro gives him another corner of the dollar bill, this time with "seller" written on it. Victor leaves and walks over to Mrs. Worthington's house, where he leaves the paper on the door like she asks him to.
- When he gets home, neither of his parents' cars are in the driveway. This is good news since it means that Mam has returned to look after him. Yay.