Hope
- Welcome to the beach, a place that Will loves. Wait, what was that? Will loves something? Indeed, apparently he does.
- Will shares a moment with the severed head of a fish, which brings him joy. To each his own, we supposed.
- His peace of mind is interrupted by Pops nagging him about school and life issues.
- Pops asks Will about the gnomes, which are disappearing from the classroom, and the two get into an emotional tug of war over Will's dead father.
- Will confronts Pops about being placed in the school for "dead-enders" (515), and asks him to put him back in a normal school. Pops ignores his plea, but Will pushes him.
- Pops mentions an agreement the two had, something about Will trying to "get normal" (523)… whatever that means.
- Will wonders whether there will be a third death in town since "things always happen in threes" (548).
- Mr. Jacks asks Will to make a gnome for his mother and tells him the gnomes are his best work.
- After Mr. Jacks remarks that Will has been "losing his way," Will ruminates on his present state, noting that he is emotionally wrecked, that one day he had parents "of a sort" (568), and the next day he didn't.
- He wonders why people think of him as disturbed when the more obviously disturbing thing is the fact "somebody might have topped somebody and then did himself in," a vague reference to his parents' mysterious death that makes it sounds more like a murder-suicide than an accident.
- Will ruminates on the concept of idleness versus being productive after Mr. Jacks asks him to stick to making more gnomes.
- Following a brief conversation with Angela, Will contemplates friendship, loneliness, and being alone while surrounded by other people.
- Will suggests that his gnome is a monument to the meaning of life, which is… uh, er… ? Yeah, good question.
- At home, Will brings the television into his room, eats dinner, and doesn't leave the house for three days.
- He thinks about death, and comes to the conclusion that his grandfather is afraid of feeling and therefore can't communicate about his feelings to Will.
- Angela visits and asks Will why he's been missing classes—she is worried about him.
- Will finally discloses some of the details of his parents' death: His father drove off the road into the water with his stepmother in the car.
- Frank Sinatra, whom his father adored, died shortly after that.
- Will tells Angela he thinks his father was "some kind of carrier pigeon of death" (689).
- When Angela asks whether it was a surprise, an accident, or a mistake, Will tells her that he believes his father's intention was to kill himself and his wife, and also that his birth mother died about a year after Will was born.
- Will is glad that Angela doesn't feel pity for him like he thinks most people do. She also makes it clear that she doesn't "like" him. Go you two.
- Will takes his first shower in three days, remembers how much he loves taking showers, and tells himself that he must never forget this fact. He is, in a word, rejuvenated.
- Angela persuades Will to get out of the house and go for a walk.
- Will struggles to convince Angela he does indeed have a sense of humor.
- They visit the spot where the two teenagers died, and find that one of Will's sculptures has been placed there.
- Angela tells Will her favorite literary quote: "I love humanity, it's just people, make me want to puke."
- They plant two of Will's wooden sculptures in the sand.