Chapter 7

So I started to hear about what Gene was telling people when he went down to the Butt Room. I heard that he told everyone he took all my money, and then blackmailed my parents, a few other things, and then about pushing me out of the tree. This upsets me because I’m still not even sure the pushing me out of the tree is true but none of the other stuff is true. I then decided that I was getting much better, so I was well enough to go back to Devon. I was very excited to be going back to see my old friends again, and to finish up the year instead of being stuck in my house being hurt. I could tell when I arrived that Gene was surprised to see me, since I kept my returning a secret from everyone. I hope that everything goes well with me being back, and it will be like I never had to leave. Maybe I will even try a game of Blitzball even though I’m not supposed to.

Phineas starts to feel better, and well enough to return to Devon. 

Phineas loves playing sports, so he's hoping he will be well enough to play some. 

"Phineas was back."- Page 94 This is was Gene says when he sees Finney.

" Oh you know about the tree,"- Page 82 Gene says this right before he starts telling the stories about what "happened." 

Chapter 6

As I’m lying here in my house I constantly wonder about what’s going on at Devon. I like to think about who misses me, and what the story must be of what everyone thinks happened to my leg. Even though I shouldn’t I also think about what Gene is doing and how he is doing. I also think about the Suicide Society, I wonder if they ever meet, and if Gene has taken my place, or if they never meet anymore and the society has just completely gone away. I also like to think about the games I created; Blitzball for example, does anyone still play it? Or was that just something people did to make me happy. The doctor told me I’m not allowed to play sports anymore which upsets me because there was nothing I loved more than a good game. However, before Gene left when he came to visit me I did tell him something I hope he listened to me. I told him that if I could no longer play in sports then he would have to play for me. He said that he would, so if he does he will need to do some practicing because he is not as good as I am.

Finney spends time thinking about his past and wondering how everyone is doing. 

Finney tells Gene that he needs to play sports for him since Phineas no longer can.

"Listen, pal, if I cant play sports, you're going to play them for me," - Page 77 Phineas explains to Gene that since his leg is shattered he can't play sports, so Gene needs to play for him.

"And I lost part of myself to him then, and a soaring sense of freedom revealed that this must have been my purpose from the first: to become a part of Phineas." - Page 77 Gene believes that the reason he caused Finney to fall is because he wanted to secretly wanted to become the new Phineas. 

Chapter 5

I had fallen out of the tree and shattered my leg. As I was lying unable to move in the hospital I wanted people to visit me because I was all alone. Gene was the first to come and see me which did make me happy, even though he probably thought that I didn’t want to see him. He kept asking me how I fell and what caused me to fall. I told him that something shook and I just lost my balance. I’m not really sure what caused me to fall out of that old tree. Although I did notice something about Gene, he seemed to be much more offended than he should be, like as if it happened to him instead of me. This confused me because he should have no reason to be so upset, I mean yeah he was there with me but I was the one that fell, not him. After Gene was trying to tell me something that he said I was going to hate, but my doctors and nurses came in before he could. I was told I still wasn’t well enough for visitors, they sent me to my home outside of Boston. I wasn’t at my house for long before I heard the door open; Gene had come to see me at home. Gene told me that he had caused my fall, that he shook the branch to make me fall on purpose. Of course I didn’t believe him, I convinced him he must have just been tired and he wasn’t sure of what he was saying, because there was no way that he was the reason I fell and shattered my leg.  

This is Finney when he was in the hospital

Chapter 4

Gene and I slept on the beach for a night and I started to believe Gene was thinking I was crazy for doing this. When we woke up I knew that we had limited time to get to school and Devon was at least a three hour drive. I thought it would be a good idea to go for a morning swim before we got ready to leave even though Gene did not. I accused Gene of wanting to be the class valedictorian, and he admitted to it. I was never very good at school; however I am a great athlete. I am probably the best athlete that Devon has ever had. Gene was always a great student but he did not do so well in sports. I decided that I should better start studying if I wanted to graduate because they wouldn’t just pass me because of my athletic abilities. Gene and I had not been talking much lately, I’m not quite sure why though, I don’t remember doing anything wrong. The only time I saw him was when the Suicide Society would meet every night, but we really didn’t interact. One night when Gene and I were sitting in our room Leper came in to tell us he was finally going to jump out of the tree, although we both knew that he wouldn’t. I asked Gene to come with me and he freaked out because he needed to study. I never realized that Gene had to study I thought everything just came naturally to him. I completely understood so I told him not to go because I wanted him to keep being the best and if that meant he needed to study then that’s what he had to do. Gene told me that he believed he studied enough for the night so he decided to come with me anyways.

This is a picture of the beach that Gene and I slept at before school one day.

This picture is of Gene who studies to keep his strait A's.

"As that crucial summer wore on and I tightened the discipline on myself Phineas increased his bouts of studying." - Page 47. This quote shows that Finney started to study more to become a better student.

"Phineas was without question the best athlete..." - Page 47. This quote shows that Finney is really good at the sports that he plays.

Chapter 3

I decided that The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session should meet every night. Part of the tradition me and Gene had to jump first before everyone else because we were the founders of this new club. After we had jumped then the rest of the club could join in. I loved sports and never thought anything bad could ever happen in them. I hated the summer athletic schedule, and out of all they had badminton which was stupid. However, I liked having the playing fields all to ourselves since the seniors were all off training for the war in case they were to be drafted. Then I found a leather ball and thought that it would be much better if we just made up our own sport instead. We thought it should have something to do with the war like blitzkrieg ball, but then settled on blitzball. We started playing the game just making up the rules as we went along, not knowing exactly what we were doing but it still seemed to work out nicely. I remember one time I beat the school record in swimming. I never did swimming as a sport but I just thought that I would try to beat the record, not for it to count just to see if I could do it. Gene thought that we should tell somebody and have my name put up, but I convinced him not to.

The badminton racket is because the original sport the boys were supposed to play was badminton.

The Leather Medicine ball was the ball they all played with when they created the game blitzball.



"I have a feeling that I can swim faster than A. Hopkins Parker." - page 34 This is when finney decides that the record is an insult to the school because no one had beaten the record in a long time so he wants to try it.

"You don't use your arms when you knock the ball carrier down." - page 29 Finney starts to make rules as everyone is playing this new game called blitzball.

Chapter 2

Mr. Prud’homme seemed to be very upset that Gene and I had missed the dinner. I tried to explain that we didn’t realize how late it was and we just lost track of time. He thought we had on purposely skipped the meal, which wasn’t true. I explained to him that we needed to jump off the tree to get ready for the war. In case we got drafted, we might as well be ready. All he did was a slight laugh at me, so I guessed he wasn’t so mad. I decided to get dressed, and I put a pink table cloth over my head. Gene told me that I looked like a fairy, I didn’t understand. Nobody else seemed to notice the “weirdness” of my outfit. Mr. Patch-Withers and I started to talk about the war I liked hearing his point of view. However, the talk itself was very boring. I decided that we needed to clear our heads, so we should go jump into the river. I thought it would be a good idea to jump together, to bond our friendship. In that very moment we made a suicide society. We named it “The Super Suicide Society of the Summer Session.” The only way someone could be in it was if they would jump into the river from the giant tree.

This is a picture of someone jumping out of a tree into the river, which is like the boys who do it for the society.

This is a picture of war, which is going on, and its all everyone is thinking about, and talking about.

"We'll jump together to cement our partnership," - page 24 This shows that Finney respects and likes their friendship and wants to make their society official.

"Well we've got to do something to celebrate. We haven't got a flag, we can't float Old Glory proudly out the window. So I'm going to wear this, as an emblem." - page 18 This is when Finney wears the pink table cloth and Gene makes fun of him, and says that everyone else will to.

Chapter 1

The tremendous irate tree that looked over the river was a beautiful thing. I thought the tree would be fun to climb, so I suggested it to Gene. He thought climbing it would be intimidating, however I didn’t see what the big deal it was I thought it should be fun. I liked having many friends around me so there was never a dull moment. I decided to not only climb it but jump off the branches right into the river. I wanted to be like the older kids that I heard like to do this too. I was excited to be the first one of our group to try this, and also that I had to be the role model to show them it would all be okay.  I told them that if I did it there was no reason to be afraid so they should just do it right after I had. Gene was the next to jump into the water, and I have to admit it looked good. Leper, Bobby, and Chet all chickened out and they wouldn’t do it. From that moment on I was best friends with Gene.  I decided to bring him to the place I call my “west point stride.”  The west point stride was intolerable; I thought that all evil against happiness was achieved by reaction. We realized that it was almost time for dinner so we needed to leave this field. We had a slight wrestling match that I lost, but I wasn’t upset and then we started to leave for home. After me and Gene had eaten dinner with all the other boys we headed back to our room. We were studying under the yellow lights, reading our Hardy assignments.  While we were studying we were listening to the news on our very low; because it was not allowed, radio to pass the time. Then after saying a few prayers we both went to sleep, along with all the other boys from Devon.

This is the large tree over the river that they like to jump off of.

“West Point stride” is where Finney likes to go and he brought Gene there once.

“What I like is that it’s such a cinch!”- page 6. This is how Finney describes how easy the tree will be to climb.

“Its soaring black trunk was set with rough wooden pegs leading up to a substantial limb which extended farther into the water.” - Page 7. This explains how the tree looks.