Max the Mighty

Running through the dark as if he has night vision, Max carries the sleeping Worm through the countryside until he comes to a train moving slowly down the tracks. Worm wakes and says, “I dreamed we were flying and I wasn’t afraid” (84). Max jogs alongside the train and, carrying Worm, jumps onto a flatcar loaded with farm equipment. Despite his fear, he makes it safely. Worm says, “You’re amazing.” Max doubts it.

The train speeds up. Max notices that the night sky’s stars don’t move, even though they do. Despite ending the fine trip on the Prairie Schooner, Max feels strangely happy. Worm is still safe from the Undertaker; Max did well getting her away. He feels dumb to think like that but admits that the truth sometimes is “just plain stupid” (85).

Worm says she wasn’t really asleep when the police came: She knew Max the Mighty would save her. She heard stories about him back at home, including that his dad killed his mom. He doesn’t want to talk about it, but her face looks so innocent in the starlight that he tells her how his dad strangled his mother, he called the police, and his dad went to prison.