Lines 43-50 Summary

Lines 43-46

Outside,
A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.

• Line 43 is another single-word line and it signals the transition from interior (the store) back to exterior (outside… brr).
• By giving outside its own line (and indenting), we're really forced to consider that word "outside." As a result, the transition is emphasized.
• Remember, we're going from the (comparatively) nice toasty store back outside into the December cold. You're going to feel it. It's not a transition you're going to miss. Soto makes sure we don't.
• Back outside, Soto sets the scene for us again. The description of those cars "hissing past" is another really sensory kind of detail. We can hear those tires hissing along the damp pavement.
• The description of that sound is something that helps place us, the reader, out on the sidewalk with the speaker and the girl.
• It's foggy now, and Soto uses another simile to describe it.
• The fog is "hanging" between the trees like "old coats." This simile seems a little strange, right? Sure, fog hangs and so do coats. But beyond that the comparison seems like a bit of a stretch. Fog and coats look nothing alike. Unless…
• This simile is less of a visual comparison then a comparison of mood. Think about old, discarded coats. An old coat hanging in a tree is kind of lonely image.
• If you've ever been out on a really foggy day, you know that the fog can create a pretty lonely atmosphere. Details and distances are obscured and it can make you feel like you're all alone on the planet.
• Remember, we still don't know what finally happened at the drugstore counter. Did the kids get their candy or was our young speaker humiliated in front of his girl?
• Come to think of it, those "hissing" tires feel a little ominous (is hissing ever a good sound?), and the lonely mood created by the fog feels, well… lonely. Gulp.
• It seems like we are being set up for some bad news. We think this date has ended in humiliation and, sadly, a wicked sugar jones.

Lines 47-50

I took my girl's hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.

• Hey, it looks like things turned out all right after all.
• In fact, things have turned out better than just all right. For the first time, the speaker actually refers to "her" as "my girl." The speaker and the girl seem to have achieved a new level of couple-ness.
• But wait, it gets better. They even hold hands for a couple blocks. The only thing that causes them to finally separate is the sweet siren call of chocolate.