Chapter Four Summary

Eugene reflects back to his teenage years in Ohio. His father worked for Barrytron, a chemical company that was acquired by the conglomerate corporation Du Pont when Eugene was 16 years old. The acquisition fundamentally changed his family's fortunes. His father, a long-time employee of Barrytron, undergoes a mid-life crisis, fearing he will lose his job when Du Pont reviews its employee roster. His father has an affair which becomes an embarrassing bit of town gossip, well-known to all, which further alienates Eugene from his father and strains his parents' already fragile marriage. But worst of all, Eugene remembers how his father insisted on participating in Eugene's science fair experiment against Eugene's better judgement. His father takes over, producing an experiment so clearly engineered by an adult that Eugene is disqualified from the fair on the grounds he received help with his...