Crenshaw

Jackson goes back to bed but cannot sleep. When he gets up for a glass of water, he notices the light on under the closed bathroom door. He hears humming and does not want to open the door. When he finally opens it, he sees Crenshaw “taking a bubble bath” (56).

Jackson hurries into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He closes his eyes and counts to ten, but when he opens them, Crenshaw is still there. He asks Jackson if he has any purple jelly beans. Aretha scratches at the bathroom door while Crenshaw rubs a rubber duckie against his forehead. Jackson informs Crenshaw that he is imaginary. In response, Crenshaw asks for jelly beans. Jackson tells Crenshaw he does not exist. Crenshaw begs to differ as he makes a bubble beard for the rubber duck.

Aretha continues scratching, so Jackson lets her into the bathroom. Crenshaw asks why his family got a dog rather than a cat, as the latter has “panache,” “pizzazz,” and “dignity” (59). Jackson says both of his parents are allergic to cats. Aretha puts her paws on the tub and gives Crenshaw a slobbery kiss. Crenshaw unplugs the tub, stands up, and asks for a towel. Jackson notices that Crenshaw looks taller than he did when Jackson was 7 and wonders if “imaginary friends actually grow” (61).

Jackson hands Crenshaw a towel while fretting that he can talk to, see, and hear his imaginary friend. As Crenshaw steps out of the tub, he grasps Jackson’s hand, which Jackson can feel. Crenshaw begins to lick himself dry; Jackson remarks that Crenshaw’s tongue is covered in papillae. Aretha licks Crenshaw’s tail, and Crenshaw tosses his towel away and shakes himself. The towel lands on Aretha, and when Jackson pulls it off her, she plays tug-of-war with him. Crenshaw derides the “pointless mirth” dogs express (65). Jackson asks if cats laugh, and Crenshaw replies that cats “smirk,” “sneer,” and are, rarely, “quietly amused” (65).

Crenshaw wants to wake up Jackson’s family and “walk on their heads” because “[i]t will be amusing,” but Jackson forbids it (66). He asks Crenshaw if anyone else can see him. Crenshaw replies that he’s not sure because he is out of practice being Jackson’s friend. He pouts that Jackson abandoned him. Perhaps in the intervening years, the rules have changed. Worried that someone else will see Crenshaw, Jackson tells him to come to Jackson’s room and be quiet about it. As they walk down the hall, Robin steps out of her room to ask Jackson who he was speaking to.

Jackson tells Robin he was talking to Aretha. Robin asks if he was giving her a bath. When Jackson says yes, Robin notices that Aretha is dry and smells the same. Jackson notes that Robin does not seem to notice Crenshaw, whether because it is dark, Crenshaw is invisible, or “because none of this was really happening” (70). She tells Jackson she loves him and returns to her room.

In Jackson’s room, he, Crenshaw, and Aretha pile onto his mattress. Jackson tells Crenshaw he needs “to understand what’s happening” and is worried he is “going crazy” (71). Crenshaw tells Jackson he is not going crazy and asks for jelly beans. When Jackson does not reply, Crenshaw curls up and falls asleep. Jackson insists to himself that there is a logical explanation, and “the scientist part” of himself wants to figure it out (71).

Robin knocks on Jackson’s door to tell him that she misses her trash can decorated with bunnies, which her father took for the yard sale. Her empty room scares her, and she asks Jackson to come to her room and read The House on East 88th Street to her. She tearfully tells him that she will wait outside his door until he is ready, and he responds that he has something to do first and will be just a moment.

Jackson opens his window and says goodbye to Crenshaw, telling Crenshaw that he needs to go back where he came from. Crenshaw tells Jackson that he needs Crenshaw, and that imaginary friends only come when invited and stay as long as they are needed. Jackson insists that he did not invite Crenshaw, who in turn insists that he cannot leave until he helps Jackson. Those are “the rules” (77). Jackson asks who makes the rules, and Crenshaw puts his front paws on Jackson’s shoulder and says, “You make the rules” (77). Jackson points to the window and replies that he does not need an imaginary friend.

Robin taps on Jackson’s door, saying that she is lonely in the hall. A frog jumps onto the windowsill, and Jackson shares a fact about their amazing jumping ability. Crenshaw agrees to go out hunting for the night. Meanwhile, he adds, Jackson needs “to tell the truth” to “the person who matters most of all” (79). Crenshaw follows the frog out the window and runs off into the night. Jackson feels relieved and chilled at the same time.

Robin is waiting in the hall for Jackson with her stuffed armadillo, Spot. Jackson leads her back to her bedroom, and she says that she heard him talking. He tells her that he sometimes talks to himself, which they both agree is weird. As he fetches The House on East 88th Street from Robin’s keepsakes bag, he asks her if she has ever had an imaginary friend. She replies by naming her real friends. When she does not have them, she has Jackson, and therefore does not need an imaginary friend. He is happy she feels that way, though he hoped for a different answer.

Jackson starts reading the story, and Robin asks if he remembers when they “lived in the minivan” (83). Jackson is surprised she remembers since she was so young. She begins to cry softly and wonders if they will have to live there again. She whispers that she misses her things, does not want to live in a car with no bathroom, and her “tummy keeps rumbling” (84). Jackson is shocked that she has figured out so much. He knows she wants to hear the facts—that they are having financial problems and will probably have to leave their friends and apartment again. Instead, he comforts her, assuring her everything will be fine. He shares a fun fact about crocodiles then notices that she is already asleep. Jackson is “too busy remembering” to sleep (85).