This chapter begins with Bailey's future being argued over, even though it's obvious he's just gonna end up with the circus and the red-haired girl that gave him the glove. At least it is to me, who already read the book...Whoops!
Moving on, Bailey's grandmother is demanding that he attend Harvard, and Bailey agrees, but his father is obstinate that he's going to take over the farm.
This is more time-jumpy stuff, as this chapter takes place in the fall of 1902, and Bailey is sixteen. This is about a year after Celia and Marco finally stop screwing around...or start screwing around. Aaaannnyway, the competition is getting serious while Bailey tries to decide if he wants to go to Harvard.
Note: I forgot to mention this earlier, but this competition isn't like Harry Potter. It isn't a flat-out battle. It can't be, because Hector and Mr. A. H-, despite having done this for many, many years, haven't realized that you can't bring people together so permanently and forcefully and then expect them to fight to the death.
Bailey hasn't made up his mind. He doesn't know if he'll like Harvard, but he knows that nothing exciting is waiting for him on the farm. The arguments with his father on the subject become more and more heated. His grandmother begins to invite him singularly to her house in Cambridge.
One day, she tells him that she's not going to force him to, that she thinks it will give him more opportunity. When Bailey says he has a responsibility to the farm, she says something that my Kindle says has been highlighted by 1457 people (including me):
"'Follow your dreams, Bailey,' she says. 'Be they Harvard or something else entirely. No matter what that father of yours says, or how loudly he might say it. He forgets that he was someone's dream once, himself.'"
However, his father continues not to give two shits, in a very Hector-like fashion.
"'Doesn't my opinion matter?' he asks one evening, before the conversation escalate to door slamming.
'No, it does not,' his father answers."
Well then.
He begins taking long walks, often ending up at the oak tree. He moves a box of personal treasures up into its branches, including several pages filled with his written details of the circus, and then the red-haired girl comes up again. He has not written anything about her, or told anyone, but while the circus was there, he went searching for her, failing twice to find her. "The only proof he has now that the girl even existed, and it was not a figment of his imagination, is the glove."
On "a grey Saturday morning," Bailey wakes early, does his chores, and returns to the tree. He sits reading a book for a while in the branches, and this chapter ends with him looking up and seeing the tents of the circus in the field where it had been the last time.
Oh, and don't worry, Bailey. You'll see her again.
Chapter Sixteen should be up by next Saturday. I'm reinstating the Shatter Me review, as, by some miracle, I've managed to settle my schedule into a recognizable routine. There should be at least one chapter of both books every week. Also, the next post of The Night Circus will be the Part One synopsis, meaning that, at this rate, this review will be completed sometime in June.
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