No More Dead Dogs

Wallace goes to the football game on Saturday only to learn he can’t play while he’s on detention. The captain is irritated, and Cavanaugh secretly enjoys Wallace’s distress. Dejected, Wallace leaves, unable to believe he can’t play “just because I wasn’t psyched about Old Shep, My Pal” (24). He considers lying and writing a good review of the book, but remembering his dad’s lies, he can’t bring himself to do it.

Wallace’s school loses the game, and a swarm of angry students is in front of the building Monday. Wallace climbs in a bathroom window only to find Cavanaugh there. Cavanaugh found out why Wallace is in detention and goads Wallace about Old Shep, My Pal. The president of the school newspaper, Parker Schmidt, bursts into the bathroom and demands the truth from Wallace. Wallace tries to evade talking to the kid, but Cavanaugh spills Wallace’s secret about detention and how he has an incomplete grade in English. The next issue of the school newspaper features an article titled “Gimme an A or I Won’t Play!” (31), detailing how Wallace refuses to play football unless Mr. Fogelman passes him.