Summary

The novel takes place in August 1999. The main character, 12 year-old Michael, lived in Delaware. Michael was very worried about the approach of the year 2000, known as Y2K. He had seen on the news that it was possible all of the worlds computers would stop working because they wouldn’t be able to cope with the year number changing to 00. Michael feared that society would collapse and people wouldn’t be able to live normal lives or buy food. To prepare for this, Michael had been shoplifting from a local grocery store to build a stockpile of food for himself and his mom. Shoplifting made Michael very nervous because he was usually someone who followed the rules and behaved. At the grocery store, Michael stole some canned peaches because he knew they were his mom’s favorite. On the way out of the...