Chapter 5 Summary
Byron has a dangerous habit of playing with matches, and Momma is acutely aware of the potential deadliness of matches. She often tells a story about when her house caught on fire when she was a little girl, and she and her brothers had to wear clothes that smelled like smoke for years as a result. Momma and Joey get "all sad and sobby" when she tells this story, but Byron and Kenny have heard it so many times that they think it is "kind of funny" and have even given it a name: "Momma's Smokey the Bear story." Momma had caught him lighting matches the last time about a week previously and had put him on punishment for a month, and she swears that the next time she catches him starting fires, she is going to burn him.
...
(The entire section is 632 words.)
