House Arrest

12-year-old seventh grader Timothy, the first-person narrator, explains that he is an “adjudicated delinquent” (10). The court has ordered him to write in this journal six days a week for one year. The seventh day of the week, he attends therapy with Mrs. Bainbridge. Timothy suggests that maybe he will write about “the other people I see” and pretend that he is free to play outside with his friend José (10).

Timothy’s probation officer, James, suggests Timothy rethink his previous entries. If the judge is not satisfied, he may send Timothy to “juvie” (12). Timothy was not expecting James to read his journal and thinks it is unfair. He sees James on Mondays and Mrs. Bainbridge on Tuesdays. The only other places he is allowed to go are school and home. Timothy is on house arrest.

He tells the story of how he got in trouble a few weeks earlier. His baby brother, Levi, who needs a tracheotomy tube to breathe, requires expensive medical treatments and care. Timothy was helping his mother, Annie, attend to Levi’s needs, but his “head was full of fairy-tale/dwarves/named Foggy and Frosty and Sleepy/and Crazy” (14).