Third Part, Sections 20 and 21 Summary

20 - Bix is absent from school for the next week, and leaves Home Ec class completely. Jerome describes in narration how he was concerned about him, but was too busy to track him down - with Home Ec, in which he was actually learning to cook real food, with cooking at home, where his brothers were actually looking forward to what he prepared, and, eventually, helping his mom, who finally comes home from the hospital. She's slower, quieter, and weaker, but eventually becomes stronger and more talkative. Even though he's worried that some of her thinking might have been damaged (see "Quotes," p. 124), Jerome is relieved she's back, eventually telling her everything that happened with Bix and surprising himself by crying about it. Mamma realizes that he's been neglecting his basketball, and that his brothers have also...