Chapter 5
Byron has a habit of playing with matches, and Wilona repeatedly threatens to do "what she always said she would" if he keeps it up. Her house caught fire once when she was a child and she does not want the same thing to happen again. Despite these warnings, Byron continues his bad behavior; Kenny peeks in on him in the bathroom, where Byron is pretending to make a movie in which he lights toilet paper parachutes on fire and drops them into the toilet.
Wilona comes upstairs to investigate why the toilet is being flushed so much and smells the match smoke. Furious, she drags Byron down the stairs by the neck and tells Joey to go to the kitchen and bring her a box of matches. Joey is upset and tries to defend Byron, so Wilona asks Kenny, but he balks as well. Wilona is forced to go get the matches herself. Joey tells Byron to run and get away. Wilona's plan is to burn Byron's fingers so that he feels what fire can do and never touches matches again.
Joey starts to cry, and Wilona softens up a bit and explains that she has to do this even though she does not want to; if she does not correct Byron, their house might be set on fire. Byron tries to run, but Wilona catches him and is about to touch a lit match to his fingers when Joey quickly blows out the match before it gets to him. Joey continues doing this as her mother tries again and again, until finally Wilona gives up and lets Daniel take responsibility for punishing Byron later that night.
Chapter 6
Wilona asks Byron and Kenny to go to the store and get a few things for dinner. Rather than giving them money, she tells them to sign for the food; the Watsons will then pay the grocer, Mr. Mitchell, on the next payday. Byron takes this arrangement as a sign that the Watsons are on welfare, even though they are not, and complains. Wilona scolds him, saying that food is food and that they have eaten welfare food in the house before. The boys have no choice but to listen to her and go to the store.
Byron tells Kenny to hold their spot in line while he looks at some comics; Kenny knows that Byron is doing this is so that Kenny will be the one who has to be embarrassed by asking to sign for the groceries. Kenny tells Mr. Mitchell that the groceries need to go on the welfare list. Yet Mr. Mitchell laughs and reminds him that the welfare list is not in question; all signing for the groceries means is that their father will pay all at once instead of a few times a week.
After the two boys leave, Byron wishes that they had taken more free food when they had the chance to, since all they had to do was sign for it. A week later, Kenny is walking near Mitchell's when a cookie with pink frosting comes out of nowhere and hits him on the head. Byron, it turns out, is throwing cookies at him from a nearby apple tree. Byron has an entire bag of Swedish Creme cookies, and offers Kenny some. Kenny realizes that Byron has been signing for groceries all this time, and that the Watson parents have no clue. Byron tells Kenny that he cannot tell the rest of the family, since Kenny has eaten some of the cookies already, too, and would also be in trouble.
Byron starts throwing cookies at a bird sitting on a telephone wire. One hits the bird right in the chest and the bird falls to the ground, dead. Kenny is astonished that Byron managed to hit the bird, but Byron is uncharacteristically horrified, so horrified that he throws up. Byron insists that it he has simply gotten sick from eating apples from the apple tree, and tells Kenny to scram; he does, but comes back later and sees that Byron has made the bird a little grave and buried it.
Explanation:
~Hope this help!
