Chapters V and VI Summary

Chapter V: The Strength of Life (Pages 119 - 144)

On the first of December, a very heavy snow falls. Ned stops by Mr. Scully's house before going to school and sees the gray cat lying on a quilt on top of an old icebox in the shed. Ned notices Mr. Scully's footprints in the snow leading up to the shed, but Ned does not approach the cat.

On the way home from school that day, Ned helps Janet by picking up some schoolbooks after she drops them in the snow. Billy Gaskell calls Ned a mean name and the two boys get into a fistfight. Soon, Ned and Billy end up laughing at themselves and the boys soon make up. They talk excitedly about the possibility of playing hockey with the bigger boys this winter.

Now that the...