Downsiders

The narrator says that tourists are typically easy to identify, but Talon navigates Coney Island with such extreme bliss that people assume he’s “mad” rather than a tourist. He notices people leaving their coats on the hooks at restaurants and assumes the coats are up for grabs. He takes a puffy jacket, finding “wads” of cash in it. He admires the Wonder Wheel and goes on the Cyclone. The wonder, fear, and joy intoxicate him.

Ever since Becky told classmates that Lindsay crawled into a storm drain and disappeared, Lindsay has become the center of Icarus Academy gossip. As she lets her hair grow “wild” and wears the earrings from Talon, people think she’s an “Albanian princess.” Girls with manifold piercings try to befriend her, as do boys who dress in all black and read The Catcher in the Rye (1951). Lindsay only wants to be with Talon. Holding hands with him in a dark sewer felt much more “natural” to her than a traditional date.

When Todd and Lindsay come home from school, they find a “bum” sleeping on their stoop. The “bum” is Talon. To fool Todd, Lindsay pretends he’s Charlie from math class.