Summary

Adam Appich's chapter begins in his first person narration when he was five years old. He paints a picture for his mother, who then hugs him. Adam wiggles out of the hug and his mother makes a comment to their guests that he is "a little socially retarded" (48). The narration then continues as he, his father, and his three siblings begin to pick out a tree for their unborn sibling. Each of the others already has a tree to call their own. Their father decides on a black walnut for the baby. The narration jumps to when Adam was nine and he decides to hold an election among their siblings to see whose tree is the best. The runoff is between Adam's maple and Emmett's ironwood, which Emmett ends up winning. The narration then jumps to Adam at the age of ten when...