Hello, Universe

Chet is still in the Super Saver shopping with his father. He thinks his father is a smart and powerful man who knows the secrets to success in life. Mr. Bullens makes fun of the deaf Valencia, the overweight woman in the checkout line ahead of them, and the cashier with acne. He explains his philosophy to his son: “Sometimes the only way to teach people was to embarrass them, wake them up, make them see the error of their ways. That’s what Mr. Bullens always said. It worked, too” (77).

Virgil wakes up early the next morning and goes down to the kitchen for breakfast. Nobody else is up, and Virgil is basking in the silence. He doesn’t question this gift of quietude, “[he] was too busy relishing in the discovery that he could hear his thoughts. No one talking loud or laughing louder. No one calling him Turtle” (81). Virgil is startled when he realizes Lola is quietly sitting in the room, reading a magazine.

He asks his grandmother if she believes in fate. She says she does and that everything happens for a reason. Lola tells Virgil about a dream she had the night before. A boy was walking through a meadow when he spied a red tree. After walking right up to it, the boy was eaten by the tree. Lola warns Virgil to be wary if he sees the color red that day.  

Early on Saturday morning, Valencia is awakened by two people at the front door. They are passing out pamphlets for their religion. The flyer reads, “ONLY THOSE WHO LISTEN TO THE WORD CAN HEAR IT” (88). When the church people realize that Valencia is deaf, they back away in embarrassment.

Now that she’s awake, Valencia plans to spend the day in the woods that border her neighborhood. She keeps a zoological journal and tracks all the creatures who live there. After this activity, she intends to visit Kaori for a one o’clock appointment.

When Chet wakes up on Saturday morning, he has special plans too. One of his friends claims to have found a snakeskin. Chet is going to do him one better. He intends to trap a live snake and bring it back to show everyone. Chet thinks proudly, “People were afraid of snakes, too, but that just showed how cowardly people were. Not Chet, though” (95). He intends to scour the woods until he finds one.

On Saturday morning, Kaori is contemplating Virgil’s dilemma. She isn’t sure how to arrange a meeting between him and the girl he likes. She thinks, “This was a delicate matter. It was one thing to use the existing magnetic forces of fate. It was another to manipulate the universe to do your bidding. She needed a plan” (100).

Kaori explains to Gen that Virgil is a shy Pisces, which is the polar opposite of the dynamic Scorpio he wants to meet. Gen suggests that maybe they have something in common. It’s possible they both like guinea pigs. Kaori dismisses this idea as ridiculous.

Valencia is getting ready for her day in the woods, but first, she prepares a dish of food for a stray dog she’s secretly been feeding. She calls him Sacred. Since her parents won’t let her keep a dog, Valencia has been sneaking food to him whenever she can. 

On her way out the door, Valencia’s mother cautions her to be careful. Valencia thinks, “There’s always a footnote to her I love yous. ‘I love you, be home by four.’ ‘I love you, be sure to answer my texts.’ ‘I love you, be careful’” (110). Valencia reassures her mother and leaves. 

Virgil is in the woods searching for five perfect stones to bring to Kaori. He’s also picking dandelions as a special treat for Gulliver, who is stowed in Virgil’s backpack. The boy hears an unexpected noise behind him. Chet emerges, carrying a pillowcase and planning to bag a snake.

Virgil is astonished to find his nemesis in the woods: “He stood there, one pocket full of stones and the other full of dandelions […] like someone had lifted him out of one story and placed him in another, in these unfamiliar woods in this unfamiliar situation—alone with the Bull, who was carrying a pillowcase” (115). Chet is wearing a red Chicago Bulls T-shirt, and Virgil remembers Lola’s warning to beware the color red. When Chet sees Virgil, he immediately begins harassing him. As a mean joke, he grabs Virgil’s backpack and tosses it down an abandoned well, not knowing that Gulliver is still inside.