Mr. Sayles’ Classroom

The story begins in Mr. Sayles’ math class. Mr. Sayles is close to retirement and puts no effort into his job. He sits and does crosswords puzzles while the class falls apart. In this classroom where anarchy reigns, Cruz and Diehl are talking about video games, Doug is lobbing spitballs at Casey, and Zach is watching a spaceship. This mundane, familiar environment grounds the story into a realistic setting. It makes it clear to the reader that this story takes place in our world, where the expectations are the same as ours. A spaceship, therefore, is something amazing and unbelievable.

The Attic

The attic of Zach’s house is where all of his father’s artifacts are stored. It is not the house his father lived in, for his mother bought it with the settlement money from his father. His mother had boxed all of his...