Tangerine Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Friday, August 18

  • The 800-mile road trip is pretty boring until Paul and his mom start passing farm after farm in Florida.
  • Paul is totally into this whole new agriculture thing, and so he's really bummed out when they pass a humongous bonfire of citrus trees.
  • His mom explains that they're clearing the land to make room for more neighborhood developments, like the one where their own new house is. That doesn't do much to improve his mood.
  • They drive past a couple of these new, expensive, gated communities and finally enter their own, Lake Windsor Downs (sounds classy), and pull up to their new home. Its white color and aqua trim remind Paul of a Miami Dolphins football helmet.
  • Paul's dad and brother, Erik, are waiting for them, but Erik seems to care more about stuffing his face with pizza than saying hi. Dude, you haven't seen your mom in two weeks! Give her a hug, for Pete's sake!
  • Mr. Fisher fills them in on what they've been doing. His new boss, Old Charley Burns, is apparently never actually in the office, and has told him that he can make his own hours, too. Sweet!
  • That'll allow Mr. Fisher to go to Erik's football practice every day, so he's excited, and starts gushing about all the great opportunities Erik will have playing high school football here.
  • Paul, on the other hand, is bummed again. He hates it when his dad starts into what he calls the "Erik Fisher Football Dream"
  • He goes up to his new room to do some unpacking, and is furious when he sees the movers have mistakenly put a box of Erik's football trophies there.
  • He writes in his journal until late, and then goes to sleep—only to be woken almost instantly by Erik pounding down the stairs and peeling out of the driveway with his new friends.
  • Nice.