All the Broken Pieces

Matt is nervous to try out for the baseball team, particularly because he knows how important baseball is to his father. During tryouts, when Matt is asked to stay and pitch—his strength—he hears the other boys whispering, calling Matt “Frog-face” (47) and “Matt-the-rat” (48) and insisting they’ll quit if he joins the team. After the tryout, another seventh-grader, Rob Brennan, bumps into Matt and “hisses”: “My brother died / because of you” (48). Matt—afraid if he tells on the others, he “will be a rat” (49) and worried that if he drops out, his father will be suspicious—decides to do nothing.

Matt’s father picks Matt up from the tryouts and plays “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees in the car, telling Matt “Even if you don’t make it, / you’ll always be our MVP” (51). Later that night, the phrase “stayin’ alive” (52) repeats in Matt’s head, punctuated with “my brother died / because of you” (53).

Only four seventh graders make the baseball team, and Matt is among them. Someone has taped a picture of a rice field to his locker, with a drawing of a rat and “Matt-the-rat” (54) written on it.