Skippy Dies

The narrative flashes back to earlier in the term. Howard Fallon, a history teacher at Seabrook, struggles to get his second-year students interested in World War I. As a Seabrook alumnus who initially worked in finance, Howard remembers his schooldays and the promise of adult life. At this time, Seabrook is undergoing a transition, gradually turning over from clerical to lay management.

Howard listens in on the class of Miss McIntyre, an attractive substitute geography teacher, as her class is ending. They speak afterward and exit the school together. Howard learns that Miss McIntyre is actually an investment banker. They reach the parking lot and see that Howard’s car is covered in feathers. Miss McIntyre connects it to the nickname the boys call him: “Howard the Coward.” She asks him about his class and suggests reading Robert Graves’s poems. Before they part ways, Miss McIntyre tells Howard that she isn’t going to have sex with him.

Skippy plays a video game in his dormitory room while three of his friends—Geoff, Dennis, and Mario—watch. Much of the room is filled with the academic and scientific belongings of Ruprecht, who claimed to have come to Seabrook after his parents disappeared in the Amazon. Ruprecht is trying to discover the origins of the universe and has closely studied the work of Stanford Professor Hideo Tamashi to inform his research. As Ruprecht’s nemesis, Dennis cynically downplays Ruprecht’s interests. They are unable to avoid each other, however, since they’re mutual friends of Skippy. The other boys are fond of Ruprecht’s company since his romanticism often clashes with their adolescent cynicism.

Howard reels at his humiliation in Miss McIntyre’s presence. He receives a call from his co-worker, Farley, who tells him that Miss McIntyre’s first name is Aurelie. Howard shares Aurelie’s parting comment with Farley, unsure whether she really wants to have sex. Farley points out that Howard already has a girlfriend, but Howard reassures him that it’s nothing to worry about.

At home, Howard’s girlfriend, Halley, asks him why he is acting strangely. She is an aspiring novelist who writes office hardware reviews for her day job. Halley shows Howard a new video camera she needs to review for work. He challenges her to take a break from work to focus on her passions, but Halley is hesitant to give up her current work opportunities.

The narrative describes their relationship, which is at a crossroads. Halley, an American citizen, wants to get married, but Howard is afraid of settling down into a life of mediocrity. Throughout the evening, Howard thinks about how he doesn’t want to have sex with Halley but is interested in sex with Aurelie.

Two boys, Carl and Barry, bully another boy into giving them his Ritalin supply. They mash some pills and snort them before going to Ed’s Doughnut House to make racist and misogynist comments to a female Asian shop employee. The male Asian employee, Zhang, runs them out of the shop, banning them from the establishment.

Two girls from St. Brigid’s come out of the doughnut shop. Barry walks up to them and offers them their Ritalin supply for €30, passing them off as diet pills. Carl is upset that Barry wants to sell the girls their drugs, but Barry tries to strike a deal with them to meet later on. They shrug noncommittally and leave. When Barry starts talking about the potential of selling secondhand drugs to the untapped market of St. Brigid’s students, Carl takes the bottle from him, throws the pills away, and smacks the furious Barry.

Skippy goes to early morning swim training, where he falls behind most of the team. He gets picked on by the lead swimmers, but he doesn’t mind, thanks to the painkiller he took upon waking up. He joins his friends for breakfast, feeling somewhat irritable.

Skippy goes down to the locker room, where a group of boys are talking about their collection of fireworks. Feeling overwhelmed, he decides to take another pill.

During biology class, Mr. Farley calls attention to Skippy’s heavy breathing. Skippy starts feeling worse as the second pill takes effect. In religion class, the students play a prank on their teacher. Skippy, however, fails to play along. He experiences auditory hallucinations.

In the staffroom, two of the female teachers quiz Farley over whether he is a “kidult,” abandoning responsibility and duty to pursue indulgence.

Farley then asks Howard about his intentions with Aurelie. Howard denies that he was planning anything at all, telling Farley that he was merely bothered by Aurelie’s inappropriate remark. Just then, Aurelie arrives, and Farley draws her attention to Howard. Howard is flustered by Aurelie’s behavior, which he finds erotic.

The swim team coach, Tom Roche, arrives and is introduced to Aurelie. Aurelie finds herself drawn to Tom’s somber mood. Farley explains that Tom is not inclined to like them since he and Howard were present during a bungee-jumping accident that forced Tom to abandon a promising athletic career. Howard is clearly bothered by the fact that Aurelie seems to like Tom.

Just before their French class with Father Green, the boys notice that Skippy looks sick. Mario repeatedly kicks Skippy’s seat, and Father Green calls Skippy’s attention and lectures him on modern obscenity. To challenge Skippy, Father Green asks him if he is a virgin in front of the entire class. Skippy tries to avoid the question by answering that he doesn’t know. Father Green insists on hearing the real answer, and Skippy ends up vomiting on one of his classmates.

The narrative recalls how Halley met Howard at the cinema a few weeks after her arrival in Dublin. They quickly entered into a relationship, and Halley convinced Howard to buy a house with the severance pay of his finance job so that they could move in together.

In the present, Halley works on another tech review and feels angry about the way her life resembles her mother’s. She insists to her younger sister, Zephyr, that she cannot quit her job and risk both her visa and her mortgage. Zephyr reminds Halley to write something for herself, and Halley assures her that she will when she finds inspiration. For now, all she can do is wait for Howard to come home and manage her reaction to his apparent boredom with her.

Acting Principal Gregory “Greg” L. Costigan, sometimes referred to as “the Automator,” chats with Howard about the historical quality of the school. They go to Greg’s office, where it becomes clear to Howard that Greg’s predecessor is unlikely to recover from a heart attack, leaving Greg in charge. Greg courts Howard’s support for his succession, suggesting that lay leadership could pave the way for renovation and expansion. He shares his intention to stage an anniversary concert celebrating the school’s 140th anniversary and assigns Howard to assemble a historical overview of the school for the program.

Before he sends Howard off, Greg asks about Skippy, citing concern over the vomiting incident in Father Green’s class. Howard assures him that there is nothing to worry about with Skippy. Greg assigns him to talk to Skippy, nonetheless.

Barry and Carl search for more pills. They bump into a younger schoolmate named Oscar and convince him to steal his home supply of pills in exchange for sweets. Oscar offers to bring his friend Rory, who also has access to medication. They meet again in the afternoon, except Oscar and Rory refuse the sweets and renegotiate to trade the pills for fireworks. Barry obtains fireworks and makes the exchange.

Barry and Carl return to Ed’s Doughnut House to meet with the St. Brigid’s girls, who have brought three friends along. The boys sell the pills to the girls, but one of them tells Carl that she has no money and would like to “work something out” with him (47). They go into the woods and start kissing. The girl introduces herself as Lori. When they return to the doughnut shop, Carl instructs Barry to give Lori 10 pills. Barry later asks Carl if Lori gave him a “blowjob,” and Carl says yes.

This chapter is told from a second-person narrative perspective. Father Green leaves Skippy’s dormitory room in the evening, having held his cheek at some point in their conversation. Skippy calls his dad and tells him about getting sick in school that day. He asks if he can come home ahead of the midterm break, but Skippy’s dad declines the request, pointing out that the break is just two weeks away. Skippy is crestfallen. He asks to talk to his mother, but Skippy’s dad tells him that she is resting.

Skippy is playing his fantasy video game, Hopeland, when Ruprecht returns to the room. He tells Ruprecht that Father Green was checking up on him. Ruprecht checks his email and is disappointed to learn that he hasn’t received a response to the message he had sent to reach aliens in outer space.

Later, Skippy asks Ruprecht if it’s possible to travel back in time to stop the future from happening. Ruprecht supposes that it can be done at the speed of light, but it would require tremendous energy to break free of the universe’s gravitational forces. Skippy watches Ruprecht fall asleep before dreaming of ghouls who have come to get him. Skippy jolts awake and clutches his medication bottle.

Father Green, now in his office, writes solicitation letters for corporate donors. He greatly prefers missionary work to teaching, which leads him to wonder why he continues to work at Seabrook.

The narrative recalls how Acting Principal Greg Costigan had approached Father Green earlier about the vomiting incident with Skippy. Despite his repulsion at the youth’s apparent weakness, the priest went to the dormitories to see Skippy. He was surprised, however, by Skippy’s innocence and reached out to hold his face to console him. Father Green decides that Skippy has been sent to him so that both of them can be saved in the acts of friendship and guidance.