Summary: Chapter 83

 

Christopher wants to be an astronaut. As he is intelligent, he understands how machines work, and he doesn’t mind small spaces. 

 

Summary: Chapter 89

 

At school the following day, Christopher gives Siobhan his “finished” book. As he has promised Father not to continue the case he won’t be able to write it anymore. Siobhan says it does not matter, that he has written a good book and should be proud to have written it. 

 

Christopher thinks that the book lacks an ending. He has not found the murderer and the idea that the person who killed Wellington could be living somewhere nearby, waiting for him when he goes for a walk at night, bothers him.

 

Christopher explains to Siobhan that Father demanded that he never mention Mr. Shears’s name in the house again. 

 

Siobhan thinks that as Mrs. Shears is a friend of Christopher and his Father, therefore perhaps Father doesn’t like Mr. Shears because he left Mrs. Shears, which would constitute doing something bad to a friend. 

 

Christopher explains that Father said Mrs. Shears isn’t a friend anymore.

The next day Christopher sees four yellow cars in a row on his way to school, making it a Black Day. 

 

He refuses to eat anything at lunch and reads by himself in a corner during class. The next day he sees four yellow cars again. On the third day he keeps his eyes closed on the ride to school to avoid another Black Day.

Summary: Chapter 97

 

Now Five days on from the last chapter, Christopher sees five red cars in a row on his way to school, making the day a Super Good Day. 

 

He believes that something special will happen. Upon getting home, he goes to the shop at the end of the road to buy candy and runs into Mrs. Alexander from house number thirty-nine. 

 

Mrs. Alexander questions where he went the other day. When she brought out the biscuits for him. Christopher confesses he was afraid she would call the police, so he ran away.

 

Christopher exits the shop and pets Mrs. Alexander’s dog, which is tied up. He remembers that father didn’t ban him from talking about Mr. Shears outside of the house, so he questions Mrs. Alexander on Mr. Shears. 

 

She explains that she knows why Father doesn’t like Mr. Shears much. When Christopher asks if Mr. Shears killed his mother.

 

Mrs. Alexander expresses shock to learn that Mother is dead and assures Christopher that Mr. Shears didn’t kill

his mother.

 

Christopher questions Mrs. Alexander on why she said he knew why Father didn’t like Mr. Shears. Mrs. Alexander reveals that Mr. Shears and Mother had an affair. 

 

She states that Father dislikes Mr. Shears as a result, and that Christopher should not mention Mr. Shears in front of Father. 

 

Mrs. Alexander makes Christopher promise not to tell Father about their conversation and Christopher heads home.

 

Summary: Chapter 101

Christopher explains that Mr. Jeavons believes Christopher likes math because, in math, straightforward answers exist for every problem, unlike in life. 

 

Christopher isn’t sure that math problems always have straightforward answers, and uses the Monty Hall problem as proof.

 

Christopher thinks the problem shows that intuition can be wrong, and that sometimes numbers are complicated and not straightforward at all.

Summary: Chapter 103

Christopher arrives back at home and finds Rhodri ( one of his fathers work colleagues). 

 

Father questions him on what he has been up to, and he bends the truth and says he’s been petting Mrs. Alexander’s dog outside the shop. 

 

Rhodri asks him to multiply 251 and 864, and Christopher replies with the correct answer: 216,864. 

 

Father makes Christopher some Gobi Aloo Sag for dinner. Gobi Aloo Sag is yellow so Christopher puts red food coloring in it before he eats it.

 

As Siobhan suggested Christopher includes descriptions of things in his book.

 

Summary: Chapter 107

Christopher describes his favourite book, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

 

In the book , Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson must solve the murder of Sir Charles Baskerville, a rich lord whose family is plagued by a giant supernatural dog known as the Hound of the Baskervilles. The hound supposedly killed an ancestor of the family,

 

Christopher likes The Hound of the Baskervilles because it is a detective story with many clues and red herrings. 

 

Christopher feels he’s most like Holmes as he can focus solely on the task at hand, and to notice obvious things that other people do not observe.

 

Summary: Chapter 109

 

Christopher writes some more of his book and takes it to school the next morning to show Siobhan.

Summary: Chapter 113

 

Christopher compares his mind to a DVD player that can skip backward through his memories to a specific moment in the past. 

 

As an example of this was when he was 9 years old on the 4th of July 1992, as he describes a family vacation to the beach in Cornwall with his mother. 

 

Christopher explains that when he meets people he runs a search through his memory to determine if he knows them. He also uses his memory to navigate difficult situations, e.g rewinding to previous experiences.