Chapter 3 Summary

It is springtime. Jody is walking home from school, imagining himself leading a phantom army. Then he is distracted from his make-believe by a horny toad, which he catches. He imagines himself stalking tigers and bears, carrying a rifle. He captures more toads, lizards, a snake, grasshoppers, and a newt, and puts them all in his lunch pail. He reaches their mailbox and becomes excited when he sees that the flag is up. There is a Montgomery Ward catalog and a copy of the Salinas Weekly Journal. He runs the rest of the way home and announces the arrival of the catalog to his mother. She tells him his father wants to see him before he starts his chores.

Jody is afraid he has done something wrong, though he doesn't know what it might be. He leaves the critter-filled lunch pail with his...