Loser

Donald gets a used bike in the fifth grade that he rides everywhere. It makes a rattling noise that reminds him of his dad’s Clunker cars, so he calls it “Clinker One.” This new transport is an improvement over his clumsy running: “On his bicycle he is graceful” (161-62). It’s a symbol of growing up and becoming less inept.

During his visits to Willow Street, Donald chats with a young woman who keeps her toddler, Claudia, on a leash. Claudia tries to give Donald a present each time, usually something she finds in the gutter—a pebble or piece of used chewing gum. Donald graciously accepts these little gifts, and the bubblegum bits coagulate into a lump in his pocket. He pulls it out from time to time, idly rubbing it, and soon it hardens into a stone: “He rubs his lucky pink bubblegum stone, hoping to change his luck” (139). When Claudia disappears one snowy evening, he sets out to search for her and nearly dies of exposure, but he keeps the bubblegum stone in his mouth and gets rescued. Sourced in love and generosity, the stone becomes for Donald a charm that helps him overcome his own limits and, perhaps, even saves his life.