On Fish

Mibs is Fish’s younger sister. Fish is a very protective brother; he cares a lot for the safety and comfort of Mibs and Samson. When Mibs begins to hear Will’s thoughts through the sun drawn in pen on his hand, she shouts at him to wash it off.

“Fish… looked up at my face in the window. He looked at me screaming and plugging my ears and at the tears dripping like the kitchen tap down my cheeks…My brother took one last look up from that simple doodle to my sorry, sorry self framed inside the broken window. Then, understanding that my upset must have something to do with the unexpected things that happen when a Beaumont turns thirteen, Fish did what he had to do. Still holding tight to Will’s wrist, Fish worked his mouth for one long second, then spat a big, thick wad of juicy spit right into Will Junior’s hand… Will tried to pull his hand away, but Fish held on tight, smearing the spit in and around to mix with the ink until there was nothing left but a great messy smudge…” (107-109).

Fish does what he needs to do before asking questions. “Fish may no have known precisely why he’d needed to get that ink doodle off Will Junior’s hand, but he’d known it was important to me, and I was grateful” (109-110). There are more times during their adventure where Fish has the best interests of Mibs and Samson in mind and he does his best to take action. This connection between brother and sister makes life easier for Mibs. She does not have to do everything on her own, and she cannot. Without Fish and his protecting shield over his younger siblings this story would be lacking.