Runner

Brent Miller died in Iraq. He was patrolling near a bridge when a bomb exploded, killing him and another soldier. Chance didn’t like Miller, but he didn’t want him to die––neither did Melissa. Brian Mitchell thinks Melissa wanted Miller dead and suggests she join al-Qaida and pray to Allah. Chance defends her, and he and Brian fight before Arnold breaks them up and sends them to Dugan. As Chance doesn’t have a phone, she can’t call his dad. Brian suggests they shake hands. With no easy way to contact Chance’s dad, Dugan agrees.

The port police and their dogs comb the marina, asking if they can look in the boats. Chance’s dad and the other owners remind them they’re in America so they can “go to hell.” The officers laugh, and Chance’s dad doesn’t think they’ll be back. Chance doesn’t care: He has nothing to hide.

At Blue Note, Melissa confronts Chance about the smuggling ring, but Chance continues to evade. He doesn’t know what’s in the packages, where they come from, or what happens to them. Melissa believes they’re drugs—it’s obvious.

Melissa pulls out photographs of Bob’s Toy—an expensive yacht. When it’s near Puget Sound, tourists go out on the deck and watch kayakers race to the shore. They go to the rocks and drop off a package. They do it in front of people so no one gets suspicious.

Melissa wants to understand why Chance is involved. Drugs and alcohol wrecked his dad’s life––why didn’t he stay away? What does he need the extra money for? Chance explains, and Melissa realizes he has to pay for everything. She says her dad could have lent them money, but Chance isn’t a “beggar.” Melissa thinks Chance will get caught.

Chance realizes he has to keep “running” for three more weeks to have enough money for May and June. Once he graduates high school, he’ll enlist in the Army. By July 1, he’ll be on his own.

Melissa told him about the regular packages, but he still doesn’t know about the red packages. At night, he goes to the drop spot. A train comes, and the man gets off and drops the package in the rocks. Back on the train, the man shines a spotlight on Chance before he hides in the sand.

Chance wonders why someone would smuggle the red packages into the country and then allow them to stay on the Tiny Dancer for weeks. It doesn’t make sense. He inspects the packages and thinks about opening them when his dad enters the cabin. His dad lights a cigarette and then goes to bed.

Chance confronts the “fat guy” and tells him he’s quitting in three weeks. The guy calls Chance stupid and wonders how he’ll replace him. Chance wonders why no one got the packages on his boat. The man is surprised. There are 12 packages weighing upwards of 100 pounds total. Chance threatens to throw them out, but the guy tells him to keep them—he’ll figure out what’s going on.

Chance thinks about phrases like “terrorist cells,” “red alerts,” and “soft targets.” On a library computer, he researches plastic explosives—they’re “puttylike” and “odorless.” Chance feels dizzy and leaves the library for a small, empty park. He considers telling the police before he calls Melissa. Her dad is a “hotshot” lawyer—maybe he can help. No one answers the phone at Melissa’s house.

The “fat guy” picks up Chance in his silver Acura and tells him gems are in the packages. They’re sapphires and emeralds from Burma (present-day Myanmar), and the smugglers conceal them with Spackle or Silly Putty. Chance is glad they’re just gems, but he still wants to quit.

The start of boating season typically gives Chance the blues. People get to go to places like Alaska or the San Juan Islands, but Chance stays “nailed” in place. This season is different: Chance finally gets to leave. His dad is drinking and disheveled again, and Chance thinks he’s never going anywhere.

After retrieving a normal package, Chance runs into a pier security guard who says “howdy” as if he’s in a “cowboy movie.” On the boat, Chance tells his dad about his plan to leave. He promises to keep in touch, and his dad understands why he’s going. His dad also understands that he’ll have to figure out how to make money without his son. Chance tries to sleep, but his dad’s banging and loud sirens keep him awake.

During school lunch, Melissa tells Chance she got into Brown—a better school than Stanford. She admits it’s not “fair,” but Chance assures her he’s quitting. The only thing he’ll miss about high school is her, and they promise to write letters to each other like people did during the era of the English romance novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817).

At Walter’s, Chance tells Kim Lawton about his plans to join the army. She reminds him that soldiers die in the Middle East and he must follow orders. Chance wants people to tell him what to do—he’s tired of being on his own. She asks if Chance heard the sirens last night. Chance did, and Kim says a man drove his car off the Sunset Hill Park bluff and died by suicide. She shows Chance a newspaper with the picture of the dead person, Charles Burdett—the “fat guy.”

Chance goes to Sunset Hill Park and asks someone if the cops are sure the death was suicide. The person says they’re sure. Chance doesn’t think Burdett died by suicide—it was likely murder.

Unsure what to do next, Chance runs and sees two people in nice clothes near the drop spot. They stare at him, and Chance runs back to Pier B and the utility room. While in the shower, he hears someone come in. He plans to use a shampoo bottle to fend off the hypothetical murderers, but the someone is a tiny boy cleaning his plastic bucket and shovel.