Content Warning: This section references mental illness.

“It was the hottest summer

after the coldest winter ever,

when a storm shattered

my home

into a million little pieces

and soaring above

the sorrow and grief

seemed impossible.

It was the summer of 1988

when basketball gave me wings

and I had to learn

how to rebound

on the court.

And off.”

In the Prologue, adult Charlie thinks back on the important role that the summer of 1988 played in his healing from the death of his father. He establishes the rebound as a symbol of the process of recovering from loss—part of a broader basketball motif. He compares his loss to a destructive storm to signify the impact his father’s death had on his entire family, establishing the theme of How Grief Manifests in Different Individuals.

“My dad was a star

in our neighborhood.

Everybody knew him.

[…]

my star exploded

and everything

froze.”

Charlie uses a black hole to symbolize the impact his father’s death has on his family and community. Charlie’s loss causes him to experience stagnation; he feels stuck, powerless, and unable to move forward. The metaphor of the world freezing reflects this stagnation in grief.

“Today,

I skip school

for the first time ever

so I won’t have to listen,

so I won’t have to laugh,

so I won’t have to pretend

like the center

of my universe

didn’t collapse.”

Charlie extends the black hole metaphor, revealing how the “collapse” of his life causes him to behave differently. This is the first evidence of Charlie engaging in increasingly risky behaviors. Although skipping school to go the arcade begins innocently, he is later chased out by police, initiating a series of activities that culminate in (accidental) drug possession by the end of the novel.