The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 Chapter 13 Summary I Meet Winnie's Evil Twin Brother, the Wool Pooh Byron, Joey, and Kenny are headed out for a swim. As they leave the house, Grandma warns them not to go to Collier's Landing because a little boy got caught in a whirlpool there and drowned. Kenny wants to go to Collier's Landing anyway. Joey is nervous. She always follows the rules. Plus, she doesn't want to get lost in the water. Byron tells Joey that the boy was caught by the Wool Pooh. He says that Wool Pooh is Winnie-the-Pooh's evil twin he hides underwater and snatches little kids. Then he takes Joey and heads for the public swimming area. Hold on, Byron is heading away from trouble? Byron? Kenny is just as baffled as we are. Plus, he wants to go see where the boy drowned. But Byron says they should listen to Grandma. Since when does Byron listen to grownups? Kenny argues with him and then decides to go to Collier's Landing alone. As he walks, Kenny thinks about the Wool Pooh. He's pretty sure Byron was making that up, but it still has him a little nervous. When he gets to Collier's Landing, the water looks beautiful, dark blue and cool. But there's a sign that says, "WARNING! DANGER! NO SWIMMING! SIX LIFES BEEN LOST HERE! BAD DROP OFF!" Yikes, that sounds serious. Better turn around, Kenny. Kenny studies the water for any signs of the Wool Pooh. Then he looks around to see if Byron followed him. Finally, he comes to the conclusion that the Wool Pooh is fake and Joe Collier put that sign up because he didn't want to share his lake. Kenny reflects that big trouble seems to happen slowly, with a lot of little warnings and chances to turn back. Kenny's first warning was when even Byron didn't come with him. The second warning was when he couldn't get his shoelaces untied to go swimming. But Kenny ignores all the warnings and gets in the water.
He starts trying to catch some of the fish hanging around in the shallow water. Then he notices a turtle out in the deeper water. He takes a few more steps out and makes a grab for it. And suddenly, the bottom of the lake is gone. This must be that drop off the sign mentioned. Kenny's not worried though. The shore is still close so he'll just kick his way back. He kicks and kicks, but he doesn't seem to be moving. Then his head starts to go under. Now Kenny is scared. Really scared. The water seems to be pulling Kenny away from shore. His head goes under again, and this time, Kenny sees the Wool Pooh swim up out of the deep water. He's big and gray and has square fingers and toes. The Wool Pooh grabs Kenny's leg and starts pulling him down. Kenny kicks and fights, but he keeps going down. Wait, so, there really is a Wool Pooh? Kenny is starting to get dizzy. He's running out of air. Then Kenny sees Joey in the water looking just like the angel Mrs. Davidson gave her. Hold on, Joey's in the water dressed like an angel? The Joey-angel points up and Kenny figures she's telling him to swim up one more time. Kenny figures it can't be a good sign that he's hallucinating angels. He swims hard and makes it to the surface for a few deep breaths before getting pulled down again. This time while he's under, he sees Byron in the water. Kenny thinks the Wool Pooh is letting him see all his family before he dies. He's wrong, though; Byron is real. Byron starts fighting the Wool Pooh until finally he lets go, and Byron drags Kenny back to shore. When Kenny finally quits coughing and throwing up, Byron hugs him and kisses his head and cries. Kenny can't believe that Byron is crying over him. Aw, Byron, you really do love your brother, don't you? Every Bird and Bug in Birmingham Stops and Wonders It's Sunday morning, and Kenny sees Joey getting ready to go to Sunday school with the neighbors. She's wearing a white skirt, lacy socks, and her shiny black shoes. Kenny tells her that she looks real pretty. Aw, how sweet.
It's been a few days since the Wool Pooh incident, and Kenny is still feeling real tired and weak. Apparently he and Byron never told anyone what happened. So anyway, Kenny is sort of dozing off in the backyard when he hears a strange noise. The ground shakes a little and there's one, long thunder, then everything seems to hold perfectly still. People start coming out of their houses, wondering what the noise was, but no one knows. Then Momma screams. Kenny runs in the house and Byron explains that a neighbor just came by and said that someone dropped a bomb on Joey's church. Byron runs out the door. Kenny stands there for a minute in shock, then he follows Byron and everyone else in Birmingham toward the church. When Kenny gets to the church, it's complete chaos. What used to be the front of the church is now a pile of rocks. People are running around and screaming, but Kenny can't hear anything. It's like his ears have turned off. He sees Momma and Dad and Byron hugging and crying and calling out for Joey, but he doesn't go to them. Instead, he walks right into the wrecked church. A man walks by carrying a little girl. Kenny says it looks like he's covered in red paint. Then he sees a shiny black shoe just like Joey's sticking out from under some concrete. Kenny grabs it and pulls, but it seems like something is pulling back. Then Kenny sees the Wool Pooh again and it's his hand that has the shoe! Kenny pulls the shoe hard and it pops off of a little foot wearing a lacy white sock. Oh no. Kenny gets real scared. He thinks the Wool Pooh might get him again. He walks out of the church and past where two little girls are laying on the ground. He walks past grownups shaking and crying. He walks past people just standing still with their mouths open. He walks all the way to Grandma's house carrying the ripped shoe without looking back. Kenny sits on his bed and looks at the shoe and tries to remember if he was mean to Joey that morning. Then Joey is standing in the door asking how Kenny got here so fast and why he changed his clothes. Kenny figures the Wool Pooh is taking her around for her last visits, like when he saw Joey in the water.
Kenny's afraid to look at her. He's afraid she'll look like the girls on the ground at the church. Joey asks about the shoe and Kenny says it's hers and that he took it from the Wool Pooh. Joey starts to get freaked out because Kenny is acting so weird. She leaves and then comes back. Kenny tells her he loves her, and Joey throws the ripped shoe at him and holds up both of her shiny shoes. Finally Kenny starts to realize that it's really Joey alive. Phew. He asks her why she wasn't at the church. She says that she went outside because it was too hot, and she saw Kenny wave at her from across the street. Then Kenny kept running away, so Joey chased him only he was wearing different clothes. Kenny has no idea what she's talking about. Joey is really freaking out now, yelling and crying because she doesn't understand what's going on. Grandma Sands comes out to see what the fuss is about. Kenny finally realizes that the Wool Pooh missed Joey, and he runs out of the house to tell Momma, Dad, and Byron that Joey's okay. The World-Famous Watson Pet Hospital The Watsons have been back in Flint for a couple of weeks, but Momma and Dad are still secretly talking about what happened at the church all the time. Kenny knows they still talk about it because he's been hiding behind the couch and they don't know he's there. Here's what Kenny finds out listening to Momma and Dad: The bomb wasn't dropped on the church. Two white men either hid it in the church or drove by and threw it in during the service. The bomb killed four little girls. A bunch of other people were blinded or hurt. Momma and Dad are most worried about Kenny and how this is affecting him. (They aren't worried about Joey because she didn't see the explosion, and they all agreed not to tell her what happened.) Momma thinks something's wrong because Kenny isn't talking much and he keeps disappearing for hours at a time. He never told anyone that he went in the church. Kenny's been hiding in the World-Famous Watson Pet Hospital, also known as the narrow space between the couch and the wall. Any time one of their dogs or cats gets sick or hurt,
they crawl into this little space. Byron convinced Kenny and Joey that there's some kind of magic in the space and that the pets go there to see if the magic will make them better. Kenny hides behind the couch because he's waiting to see if the magic powers will work to make him feel better, too. Momma starts making Kenny do stuff with Rufus, but Kenny doesn't feel like playing with toys anymore, so he gives all his dinosaurs away. She also makes Kenny do stuff with Byron and Joey. Huh, we guess Byron didn't get left in Alabama for the summer. For some reason, Joey is really bugging Kenny these days. He says he never noticed what a crybaby and snitch she really is. Kenny even starts hating her. Sheesh, he hates Joey? What is going on with him? Kenny spends more and more time in the Pet Hospital and even starts sleeping there. Finally, Byron figures out where Kenny has been hiding. He says he won't tell, but Kenny starts to get the feeling that he told Momma and Dad. They stop talking about being worried and just start saying all sorts of nice things about Kenny. Yeah, sounds suspicious. Byron starts checking in on Kenny all the time and comes up with reasons for Kenny to come out and do stuff. He even sleeps on the couch to be close by. Hmm, Byron is being unusually nice these days. One morning, Byron drags Kenny into the bathroom to see his first chin hairs. Kenny decides to check out his own facial hair and looks in the mirror. When Kenny sees his face looking so sad, he starts to cry. Byron sits down and holds Kenny's head in his lap. Very un-byron. Kenny keeps crying and crying. He wonders why some white men would want to hurt kids at church. He says he thought Joey was dead. He confesses that he's ashamed of himself; that's what he's learned from all the time he spent in the Pet Hospital. He's ashamed because Byron saved him, but when Kenny thought the Wool Pooh had Joey, he just ran away instead of fighting for her. Byron says there's no such thing as a Wool Pooh or magic powers behind the couch. He explains that some part of Kenny must have led her away from the church; he should focus on that instead of feeling ashamed. Then he says it's time for Kenny to check out of the Watson Pet Hospital. Byron is turning into a pretty good big brother. Kenny thinks Byron is wrong about the Wool Pooh and also about magic not being real. But he thinks the magic might really be in the way your family loves you and forgives you and takes care of you not behind the couch.