ABSTRACT
Brian Henry does nothing to make himself more accessible. After school, he loads his briefcase with schoolbooks and comic books and goes home by one of two unvarying routes. One is the direct route home, which he walks alone with his thoughts, though often physically accompanied by three other boys. Ever since entering the Ryan three years ago, Brian has shared the sidewalk with these boys, but he knows scarcely anything of their lives. In the years since his father's death, Brian and his mother have come to share more and more of the household responsibilities. On the first of the month, Mrs. Henry goes out to collect the pension check on which two of them subsist. When she returns, they figure out the month's finances. Brian's visions of the future are all extensions of the present: he and his mother sharing a small apartment, arguing about whether or not to go out, determining what to spend their money on.
