Pages 1-42 Summary

Paddy, Sinbad, and their friends are making mischief. The setting is Barrytown, Ireland in the 1960's towards the beginning of a school year. The boys are at a building site stealing nails for a future adventure. They dream up a chase scene and create their own drama. We also find out that the boys like to light fires at building sites, create their own adventures, and write their names in wet cement around Barrytown.

They seem to have quite a reputation with neighbors and other citizens of the town. They make a regular sport of jumping hedges in a game of chase.

In the school shed, Paddy shows his cruel side. He pins Sinbad down and lights lighter fluid between his lips in front of the boys. Later in the section it is learned how much Sinbad screamed, and that he...