Summary

Chapter 7 opens with copy from Billy’s book. Benjy cried as he held his dead sister because he had not taken care of her, as his mother always asked him to do. He believed he should have shot the boyfriend before he had a chance to hurt her. When Benjy stopped crying, he called 911 and then called his mother.

Benjy and his mother had to go to a hearing. There was no judge, just three people who listened to what had happened. One of the men told Benjy’s mother that she was partially responsible. He pointed out that she knew her boyfriend had a violent nature and allowed him to live with her and the children anyway.

As Billy reads what he has written, he realizes he wrote it not so much in the voice of a mentally challenged person, but the...