Chapter 5, More Alarms at Night Summary and Analysis

One night, while living at 77 Lexington Avenue, Father threatens mysteriously to "get Buck." As the story unfolds, Father goes to bed at 9:30 but gets up at 10:30 to protest the boys' loud Victrola. Around 3 AM, Roy decides to play a joke. Pretending to suffer delirium, Roy yells in his father's ear, "Buck, your time has come!" Father leaps up, keeping the bed between himself and his son, until he is able to flee the room, locking Roy in. Mother finds Roy sleeping easily and not feverish, and angers Father by insisting that he has had a nightmare. Seeing an advantage, Roy claims that it is Father who awakens him and first mentions this Buck character.

Six months later, unable to sleep one night, Thurber runs through the names of New Jersey towns, struggling to...