The Fourth Stall

The next day, Mac greets a new customer, Matt Murphy, who needs a loan because he cannot repay his gambling debt to Staples. He worries he’s going to “be collected” (77). Mac is shocked to hear Matt owes $150. He decides he must take Barnaby out of the action. To do so, Mac gathers the nine most-feared bullies in the school. He offers them $20 per task to begin to deal with Staples’s influence. Vince is upset at the thought of losing so much in the payout. Mac tells the bullies to take out the Collector, but they have many questions; Mac sees he will have to issue specific instructions at recess.

The bullies are introduced separately in a numbered list: 1. Nubby, a mean, overweight seventh grader with nubs for fingers on one hand; 2. Little Paul, a tough-as-nails second grader who never backs down; 3. Snapper, a third-grade girl who bites others hard enough to draw blood and still won’t let go; 4. the Hutt, an “eighth grade bruiser” (86) who resembles Jabba from Star Wars; 5. Kevin, a seventh grader known for stealing lunch money; 6. iBully, a sixth grader whose computer hacks result in cyberbullying; 7. Great White, a thin, scrappy seventh grader from Britain who fights hard and fast; 8. PrepSchool, a sixth-grade girl who spreads vicious rumors about others; and 9. Kitten, a sixth grader whom Mac credits as “top bully” (89) because, although he appears to be small and meek, acts seemingly without any conscience.

The bullies agree to the plan. Mac keeps Kitten back after the others leave, saying he has a special request.

Kitten fetches Jacky Boy, one of the bookies for Staples, and brings him to Mac’s office that day at lunch. Mac convinces Jacky Boy to reveal the bookies’ leader by suggesting he (Mac) wants to help the leader create a more efficient system, thereby making more money for all involved. Jacky Boy says the leader is Justin, and Mac deduces this must be Justin Johnson, a seventh grader. Mac also places a bet through Jacky: $10 on the eighth-grade team attending the regional football tournament. Then Mac says he wants to place the same bet with each bookie in the school as a goodwill offering. Jacky Boy spills the names of all the bookies. Vince is upset with the expense, but Mac thinks they are making progress.

At recess, Mac’s plan to take down the Collector succeeds: Kitten distracts the recess supervisor; Little Paul throws a ball at Barnaby’s face; Barnaby chases Little Paul, who leads him into the trap. The other bullies wait behind the portable classroom trailers and descend on the Collector when Little Paul leads him to them. All the bullies except iBully and PrepSchool administer a sound beating; in the meantime, iBully and PrepSchool are doing their damage to Barnaby’s account and reputation. 

Mac finds a dead mouse in his locker with a threatening note that afternoon. The note demands he give up Fred. Mac knows he will not do that, so when Vince approaches, Mac does not tell him about the note nor show him the mouse. Mac notes that Vince has no jokes and seems distracted. Vince says he had a difficult day and plans to go to the office to look over numbers.

At Mac’s house that night, Vince and Mac watch a Cubs playoff game. They discuss their money issues, and their words grow uncomfortably close to an argument. Mac says he is doing what he thinks is necessary. Vince is frustrated but does not offer a better plan. The Cubs win, leaving the boys with the possibility of the World Series less than two weeks away.

The next day is Thursday. Mac gives each bully $10 as an incentive for the next task: They must guard a bookie and prevent anyone from placing any bets. The bullies will get the other half of their money after a job well done. While Joe and Mac are supervising the bullies’ actions at recess, they happen to see Jacky Boy demanding money of Brady. Mac is shocked by Brady’s betrayal. When Joe goes in for a closer listen, a seventh grader grabs Mac and threatens him. Mac wriggles away and flees. He runs up the bench part of a teeter-totter, and when the boy approaches, Mac jumps on the far end so that the seat closer to the boy flies up and hits him. Kitten runs in with a handheld office stapler and staples the boy’s pants to his own leg. Soon the boy is crying, apologizing, and saying he only acted because he owes Staples money. The incident tells Mac that a snitch is informing Staples and Justin about his every move. He puts his team of bullies on hiatus until he can solve the problem. Mac indicates in a chapter cap that what happens next makes him think of this day as “Black Thursday” (120).

After school, Mac, Joe, and Vince discover four of the bullies tied up in an alley near the school. Little Paul, iBully, Kevin, and the Hutt are beat up and bound, and some of them are crying. The two girls are there as well. The Hutt tells Mac that Justin Johnson, his friend Mitch, and a gang of high school boys did it. All of the bullies quit apologetically. At Vince’s house that night, Mac sits in Vince’s Cubs-themed room playing video games and discussing the informant. Mac thinks it must be Brady, but Joe points out that it could be Kitten, Nubby, or Great White as they were not caught and threatened with the others. They make a plan to learn the identity of the informant. 

Mac, Joe, and Vince arrive before dawn at school the next day wearing ski masks. Before Mac continues the narrative about finding out the informant's identity, he interrupts with a lengthy story that reveals how he acquired the master key to every locker in the school. Several years back, when Mac’s office was two giant tires on the playground's edge, the school faced a vandalism problem. Someone began leaving caricatures of teachers and staff all over the building that emphasized the subject’s most unattractive feature. The administration expected the janitor to scrub these drawings away, so he asked Mac to do something about it. Mac set a team of kids from all social groups to discover the identity of the vandal known as Graffiti Ninja. Vince, however, convinced Mac to go to Tyrell Alishouse, a creepy-sneaky spy-style student who lurked in shadows very effectively. Tyrell got a photo of the Graffiti Ninja, who turned out to be a girl in sixth grade named Skylar Kuschel. Mac convinced Skylar to turn her talent into profit by selling individualized drawings to students instead. The janitor was so thrilled with Mac’s help that he repaid him with the idea to take up an office in the East Wing bathroom and gave over the keys to the bathroom. The janitor also supplies other keys as needed.

The boys open Jacky Boy’s locker and find his bookie book, where they see Brady’s name. Brady owes a lot of money. They see a note: “Doesn’t have the money, will pay back with major favor” (142). The boys believe they have their snitch. Joe suggests copying the book, but the lights come on, and the boys flee. They circle the building and reenter minus the ski masks.