Character Analysis
Tommy is Nikki's ten-year-old brother. The poor kid is having a hard time of things, what with his mom dead and his older sister back from a mysterious disappearance. The way Nikki describes it is:
He was happy I was back, but he didn't know what to do with me. It took him a full week to realize I was in no condition to throw the baseball with him like I used to. He always seemed to be waiting for me to say something. Anything. And then he'd leave disappointed. (2.58)
He likes fly-fishing, and Nikki sees him "giving his latest batch of homemade flies a 'test run'" (4.38) on at least one occasion. Nikki knows that her brother is "different from other kids in the neighborhood, and sometimes those other kids teased him for it" (4.40)—at one point, some other kids gang up on him and pelt him with snowballs. Poor kid. When Nikki hears the commotion, she's "sure Tommy was on the receiving end, and it made me furious" (27.21). As well it should.
So yeah, Tommy is kind of different from his peers, enough to provoke bullying. But at least he gets to repair his relationship with his sister once Nikki ends up staying past the time of her Return. They go fishing together, and Tommy adorably repeats the same advice their dad gave Nikki when she was learning to fly fish: "Flick the pole between ten and two" (33.4). Tommy is a pretty cute kid, and with his big sister back in his life for good, we think things will be okay for him.