Summary

Chapters 1 through 5 – Ari wakes up in the hospital with two broken legs and a broken left arm. He learns from his (extremely relieved) parents that as the skidding car (last seen at the end of the previous section) approached, he pushed Dante out of the way, and that Dante has been waiting in the hospital room for the 36 hours since Ari came in. When Ari asks what happened to the wounded bird, his parents can’t tell him – and later, when a tearful Dante visits, Ari fails to ask him too, but comments in narration on how much he wants to know what became of it. A succession of visitors follows – Ari’s surgeon (who tries to convince Ari that he’s a hero for saving his friend’s life) and Dante’s parents (who are tender and grateful...