Frank tells the story of his friend Mikey Spellacy, whose family is overrun by “galloping consumption.” Mikey has become so accustomed to the days off from school and the gifts that mourning brings that when his sister comes down with tuberculosis in August, he prays that she will live until school begins so that he can be absent. Mikey enlists the help of Frank and Billy Campbell to pray for her to die in September and promises them an invitation to her wake, where there will be all kinds of food. When the sister does die in September, Frank and Billy attempt to come to the wake, but Mikey’s mother turns them away. They respond by praying that if anyone else in Mikey’s family dies, it happens the next summer. This is what happens to Mikey, who is the next to pass away from consumption.

Frank gets a job delivering papers with Uncle Pat. While out delivering, Frank meets a man named Mr. Timoney, who hires Frank to read to him. The first day of reading, Frank encounters Macushla, Timoney’s giant dog, and reads A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. This job does not last long; Macushla bites several people and is put down, after which Mr.