Rumble Fish

When he shows up to school late, Rusty-James gets expelled. The guidance counsellor tells him that he will be sent to Cleveland High, which Rusty-James knows is Biff Wilcox’s territory; if he goes to that place, Biff Wilcox will kill him. The guidance counsellor tells him that the only alternative is the Youth Detention Center. This doesn’t concern Rusty-James, as he knows that the Detention Center will have to get through ample paperwork before they accept him, giving him time to make another plan.

Rusty-James ambles around from place to place getting thrown out of bars he is too young to go to until Patty gets home from school. Patty is furious and breaks up with him because she has overheard a rumor about him messing around with a girl at the lake. Rusty-James, who cannot see what this infidelity has to do with his and Patty’s relationship, is upset and feels as though he is about to cry. He stops himself and instead ambles around until he spots the Motorcycle Boy perusing a magazine in a drugstore.

The magazine features a picture of the Motorcycle Boy—a result of an encounter with a famous photographer on his trip to California. Rusty-James is impressed and makes some comment about intending to tell everyone. The Motorcycle Boy discourages this, saying that he is already famous enough in the neighborhood and could not endure further notoriety. Rusty-James picks up on an allusion the Motorcycle Boy made to the Pied Piper, saying most of the guys in his old gang would have followed him anywhere. The Motorcycle Boy replies that “it would be great […] if [he] could think of somewhere to go” (47). Patterson, the cop who wants to punish the brothers, is watching them from across the street throughout their conversation.  

Steve, the Motorcycle Boy, and Rusty-James go downtown. Rusty-James manages to get Steve drunk, which makes him more extroverted and confrontational; he challenges Rusty-James about his drinking and his tendency to get into fights. The Motorcycle Boy does not drink, because he favors control.

Rusty-James, who is excited to be in town because he enjoys the colors and lights, remembers that the Motorcycle Boy is colorblind. The three boys go to a pornographic movie, but Steve notices the Motorcycle Boy tends to watch the audience instead of the screen. They leave early because Steve, who does not know that the men’s bathroom is a place for gay men to meet, is surprised when a man starts talking to him.

Back on the street, Rusty-James ponders aloud why he likes crowded places, and why being by himself “makes [him] feel tight, like [he’s] bein’ choked all over” (54). The Motorcycle Boy responds that this fear comes from their mother leaving them when he was six and Rusty-James two. Initially, the mother took the Motorcycle Boy with her, but she abandoned him after three days. Meanwhile, Rusty-James spent three days alone while their father went on an extended drinking binge.

Rusty-James, who has heard nothing of this story before, is in shock. He asks the Motorcycle Boy if he is keeping anything else from him. The Motorcycle Boy responds that he went to see their mother in California; he knew she lived there because he saw her on television. The Motorcycle Boy reports that he and his mother get along well because they have the same sense of humor. When Rusty-James asks if his mother said anything about him, the Motorcycle Boy “[goes] dead again, and [doesn’t] hear” (56). Rusty-James is angry at being left in the dark about this situation, but because he fears expressing his feelings to the Motorcycle Boy, he acts out by picking fights with strangers and attempting to pick up girls; the Motorcycle Boy looks on, half-amused. An hour later, Rusty-James finds himself on a door stoop with Steve, comforting him about his mother. They then find a party, and a drunk Steve makes out with a girl. 

That same night, Rusty-James and Steve follow the Motorcycle Boy to a party that stands out for having both Black and white guests. Although Rusty-James looks like the Motorcycle Boy and has inherited his hand-me-downs, he cannot convince a stranger at the party that he will turn out like him. The stranger idolizes the Motorcycle Boy as “a prince […] royalty in exile” (59). Rusty-James passes out at the party, and when he opens his eyes again, the Motorcycle Boy has left them.

Steve and Rusty-James go out into the streets and two muggers ask them for food. The boys freeze, uncertain of what to do, and then one of the muggers knocks Rusty-James unconscious. Both the mugger and Steve think Rusty-James is dead, but he is instead experiencing an out-of-body state where he feels that he is floating above his own body, which he can see lying on the alley floor. When he wakes up again, he realizes that the Motorcycle Boy has employed force to save him.

The Motorcycle Boy then soliloquizes about topics that terrify both Steve and Rusty-James. While Rusty-James does not exactly understand the words, he understands the sentiment behind them, realizing, “[T]he Motorcycle Boy was alone, more alone than [Rusty-James] […] could even imagine being. He was living in a glass bubble and watching the world from it” (64). The Motorcycle Boy expresses surprise that the prospect of his brother’s death has affected him.

When a half-conscious Rusty-James talks about the rumbles (the gang fighting that the Motorcycle Boy spearheaded), Steve urges the Motorcycle Boy to talk down the gang so that it will not be such a bad influence on Rusty-James. However, though the Motorcycle Boy got the credit for ending the rumbles, he says that he got high off the fights, while the others were terrified. The Motorcycle Boy’s disinterest in belonging is frightening to both Rusty-James and Steve. Steve wonders aloud why someone has not taken a rifle to the Motorcycle Boy’s head. The Motorcycle Boy replies that “even the most primitive societies have an innate respect for the insane” (66).