Miracle's Boys

by Jacqueline Woodson

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Student Question

What was Ty'ree's last words to his father in Miracle's Boys?

Quick answer:

The last thing that Ty'ree from Miracle's Boys said to his dad was asking whether he thought that the dog was going to be okay. Ty'ree's dad had just saved the dog, along with the lady who owned it, from a frozen lake. He would subsequently die of hypothermia.

Expert Answers

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As one can well imagine, it's very difficult for Ty'ree to talk about the tragic death of his late father. What compounds the issue is the fact that Ty'ree still feels somehow responsible for his old man's death.

As he candidly tells Lafayette, he urged his dad to jump into a frozen lake in Central Park to save a woman and her dog because he wanted the dog for himself. He's insistent that because of his overwhelming desire to have this dog more than anything else in the world, he lost his dad.

Ty'ree recounts the painful details of that fateful day in considerable detail. After the ambulance arrived, it was determined that Ty'ree's dad was okay, and so he was allowed to go home with his son. The ambulance crew gave Ty'ree's dad a blanket which he put on over his sopping wet clothes.

After Ty'ree and his dad were driven home by the cops, Mr. Bailey finally got out of his wet clothes and went to bed. It was then that Ty'ree asked his dad if he thought that the dog was going to be okay. These were the last words that Ty'ree ever spoke to his dad, as Mr. Bailey died not long afterwards of hypothermia.

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