Chapter 2 Summary

When Richard is nine years old, he goes to his First Confession. He gets very confused from what he hears at Catechism (schooling in the beliefs of the Catholic Church). Richard wants to have faith and believe correctly, but he is a very inquisitive, thoughtful little boy and usually makes his teachers, priests, and parents uncomfortable with his many questions. When Richard goes to confession, the priest asks him if he ever plays with himself and if he ever plays with and touches his sister. The boy, misunderstanding, innocently answers yes to all three questions, recalling that his mother makes him play with his sister. The priest becomes very angry. Richard, asking his mother about it, upsets her even more when he tells her that now he realizes that he misunderstood what the priest was asking him. Richard tells a story about some...