Book Two, Dogmatomachy Summary

Chapter One opens in the Spring of 1963, the day after Hugh strikes Kincaid. Hugh starts running six miles several times a week, and soon afterward he begins building a large covered shed in the backyard of their Camas home. Kincaid is helping him one day and asking what the purpose of the shed is, but Hugh does not reveal his reasoning. When the shed is done, Hugh begins spending every evening after work throwing pitches at an old mattress. The brothers find a secret place in the hedge where they can watch their father's pitching attempts and philosophize about his motivation and his future. The boys name all of the pitches by the sound they make when the balls hit the makeshift backdrop. The hedge becomes a place where the boys bond in their dedication to baseball and to...