Loretta Lee calls Freak's dad a magician. Her remark is mean-spirited, as she explains,
"He must be a magician, because as soon as he heard the magic words 'birth defect,' he disappeared".
Although Freak seems at first to be interested when Loretta calls his father a magician, no doubt thinking she is speaking seriously and perhaps might tell him more about the man he knows so little about. He most likely entertains, for just a moment, the idea that his father really might have been a magician, until Loretta so cruelly makes it plain that she is just being mean. Iggy unceremoniously shoves Freak and Max out the door after Loretta makes her comment, and when the two boys arrive back at Freak's house, Freak says, "acting real cool", that what Loretta said about his father was true. Although his mother will not talk about it, Freak knows that his father, unable to handle the reality of his son's disability, ran away because of him. Although he is thoughtful for a moment, Freak reacts with characteristic spunk, concluding,
"...you know what?..Good riddance to bad rubbish".
Freak then begins play around, acting out scenes using his parents and other people in his life as personages from Medieval times. As he so frequently does, Freak uses his imagination to create a world that is so much more exciting and upbeat than the one in which he is forced to actually live, and draws strength from retreating into it for just a little while (Chapters 11-12).
No comments:
Post a Comment