Another rarely mentioned character in the book is Barrett Rude Senior. Mingus’s grandfather is highly religious, and fears that his son is consorting with the devil, because of the sounds he hears coming out of his son’s room. However, he’s also accused of sleeping around, which he tries to justify by saying that he was giving them the blessing of God.
Dylan is hanging at Mingus’s house, finalizing a deal the two of them had for Dylan to buy Mingus’s comic books, and the flying man’s ring. Barrett Rude Junior invites the two of them downstairs to watch a football game, and they acquiesce. At Barrett Rude Jr.’s bidding, they all get high, watching the football game. Suddenly, Barrett Rude Senior busts into the room.
He begins to argue with his son, and finally calls out Barrett Rude Jr. as being twisted, stating “I praise God every day your mother never lived to see it.” Barrett Ruse Jr. cracks at this and attacks his father, but lets him go. Barrett Rude Sr. disappears downstairs, but everybody is shaken by what happened. Barrett Rude Sr. comes back upstairs, this time with a gun. Mingus yells at Dylan to go home, and Dylan runs outside and onto the street.
The chapter ends with “He was on Dean Street, teetering on a square of slate, when he heard the shot.”
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