The Bad Weather Friend

Benny, Spike, and Harper use the time-fold trick to arrive at Upton’s estate. They see a man standing by the locked gate, looking concerned. Surprising everyone, Benny spins an elaborate lie, claiming that his mother, Catherine Baneberry-Smith, is a Nobel-Prize-winning scientist who has received generous funding from Upton. He claims that he and his companions have come to give Upton important news about her research. The man says that he is Upton’s physician. He is worried because Upton ordered him to install a catheter and provide him with syringes filled with antitoxin. Worse yet, the doctor did not see Upton’s beloved rabbit, Arabella, who is always with him. He fears that Arabella has died and that Upton plans to die by suicide.

Spike “sidelines” the doctor. Meanwhile, Harper is impressed with Benny’s improvisation, and Benny does not know how to explain that he once knew a real scientist named Baneberry-Smith who eventually killed herself in a lab explosion. Spike and Harper discuss the doctor’s story and realize that Upton has laid a trap. Spike tells Harper to find the rabbit and reminds Benny to be wise.

The narrative reverts to the past. Following the headmaster’s death, Mrs. Baneberry-Smith declares herself the new headmistress and sends her husband’s body to be buried in Kansas. In the weeks that follow, Mrs. Baneberry-Smith wears provocative black outfits like the one she wore on the night that the Internal Security Agency killed Prescott. While Benny, Jurgen, and Mengistu try to avoid notice, the other students at Briarbush slowly change. Although they behave almost normally, their eyes change to gray, and they follow Mrs. Baneberry-Smith around like besotted dogs. The three boys realize that whatever she is planning, she has accelerated her timeline. Mengistu declares that they must break into her lab again and find out what she is doing.

In the present, Benny, Spike, and Harper enter Upton’s estate. The ornate building is filled with overwhelming detail and color. Benny suggests that in comparison, his all-white décor is more appealing. Spike retorts that the décor is “just a different kind of awfulness” (265). Benny and Spike head toward a parlor while Harper slips upstairs. In the parlor, they find Upton.

Upton sits in an armchair like a shriveled potato, with a face distorted by age and anger. Benny is torn between disgust and sympathy. Upton invites Benny and Spike to enter the room. Spike walks in, but Benny stands just outside the open doorway.

Meanwhile, Harper searches for the rabbit. She finds a woman in the servants’ quarters. After failing to devise an effective lie, Harper tells the servant the truth. The servant declares that they all hate Upton and impulsively offers to help Harper as long as the rabbit is not harmed. Harper agrees, and the servant leads her to Upton’s room and gives her the rabbit.

Harper carries the rabbit downstairs and finds Benny hovering outside the parlor. They step into the parlor together. Harper recalls her parents once telling her that a person’s face reflects the life they have lived. Upton’s face indicates that he has been angry since infancy.

Upton tries to coax Benny into the room. Upton has injected himself with enough antitoxin to keep him safe from the nerve gas that he will soon use to flood the room. He is also certain that he cannot die because he has poured immense amounts of money into scientific research on immortality. Finally, Benny steps into the room, followed by a young woman. Upton presses a button on his remote control, sealing the room. Only then does he notice that the woman is holding Arabella in her arms. The young woman looks vaguely like his dead sister, and he is seized by the sudden, intense feeling that Arabella has returned to thwart all his plans at last.

Upton lifts the remote control, but before he can do anything, Spike stretches his arm like rubber across the room, breaking Upton’s thumb and taking the remote. Upton screams and curses. Spike grips Upton by the throat and lifts him into the air, saying that he does not want to hear Upton’s self-righteous political rants or his “absurd vision of utopia, [his] justification for destroying people and tearing down civilization to build a better one” (280). All Spike wants to know is what Upton’s group is called, how many people are in it, and how much wealth they have at their disposal.

Upton refuses to answer. Annoyed, Spike tears his own heart out of his chest and shows the bloody, beating organ to the old man. Finally realizing his danger, Upton tells Spike everything. His group is called the Better Kind. There are 52 members, and their leader is a woman named Llewellyn Urnfield. They have massive resources at hand to fight against “monsters” like Benny. Upton calls Benny “foolishly, absurdly, dangerous nice” because he knows that Benny is also wise enough to develop the charisma to inspire others to a similar level of niceness (283), thereby bringing about the end of the world as the Better Kind believe it should be. Mid-rant, Upton seizes and dies.

Benny asks Spike what will happen next. Spike warns that people like Upton, who believe themselves to be righteous and good despite being evil and power hungry, will always see people like Benny as targets. Benny will need courage, particularly because there are bigger things than life to lose. Benny does not understand what Spike means. Spike gestures to Harper, and Benny realizes that he would sacrifice himself for her if necessary.

In the past timeline, Briarbush grows ever stranger, and ominous thrumming noises and eerie electric sounds can be heard at night. One day, seven black bears emerge from the surrounding forests to stand in a line just beyond the grounds, swaying as if to strange music. They stay that way for an hour before abruptly returning to the trees. A few days later, the three boys wake at night to the sound of a snake-like voice that is both terrifying and compelling. Mengistu suggests that it is the sound the bears heard.

For days, the boys wait for an opportunity to break into the lab. Finally, Mrs. Baneberry-Smith leaves by helicopter for a meeting. That night, many students moan and cry, as if they are physically pained by Mrs. Baneberry-Smith’s absence. Benny, Jurgen, and Mengistu prepare to break into the lab but decide to wait until morning.

At first light, they break into the lab and find a locked room in the back. Inside, they find the severed head of the headmaster with a metal collar; it is floating inside a glass sphere, which is floating above a shelf. The head turns and opens its eyes to look at them. Then, it speaks in the same snake-like voice that they heard before. The boys run.

Mengistu believes that Mrs. Baneberry-Smith is using her dead husband’s head as a transmitter to contact the aliens from Regulus that she previously mentioned. They agree that it is too dangerous to stay any longer, and Jurgen and Mengistu share their plan to escape. Jurgen has an uncle in Arizona whom they can trust. They plan to escape the school, walk 17 miles to the nearest town, and find a phone to call him. Jurgen is confident that the uncle will take them all in.

Benny agrees to go with them. However, when they reach the dorms, Benny’s mother is waiting. Naomi says that Jubal is dead and that she can no longer afford to send Benny to Briarbush. Benny wants to stay with his friends, but Naomi insists that he come with her.

As Benny, Spike, and Harper drive away from Upton’s estate, Benny recalls returning to Briarbush five years later and learning that Mengistu and Jurgen disappeared on the very day he left. They were reported missing, and search-and-rescue teams looked for 10 days before giving up. Benny prefers to believe that the boys survived the trek through the forest and escaped to Arizona.

Meanwhile, Benny and Harper sit in the backseat, holding the rabbit. Harper insists that they change the rabbit’s name, and Benny offers suggestions. Harper disapproves of all of them and states, “You won’t be naming our children” (308). Stunned, Benny asks her what she means. He points out that they have only known each other for a day and that he has not even proposed yet. Harper says that she just proposed; she asks for his answer. Spike tells Benny that they are clearly perfect for each other. Benny says yes. Pleased, Spike offers to babysit their future children.

Then, they drive up to the home of Ms. Llewellyn Urnfield. Benny and Harper are confused to discover that she lives in an unassuming house on a quiet street.

The narrator interjects, saying that Spike wishes to point out that he was not surprised by Ms. Urnfield’s attempts to conceal her wealth behind humble surroundings. Many self-righteous people, assured of their superiority, pride themselves on their humility.

As Spike, Benny, and Harper walk up to the front door, a dog runs out to greet them.

The narrative shifts to the past. As the young Benny and his mother leave Briarbush, Naomi explains that Jubal was stabbed to death in a back alley in Cairo while indulging in “perverse practices” (314). She had him cremated in Cairo and then dumped his ashes in a sewer drain when she discovered that he squandered millions on “sick desires” and “erotic purposes” (315). Benny asks how poor they are now, and his mother laments that Jubal wasted over $400 million, leaving her with only $60-70 million to live on.

Naomi says that Benny will now live with a tutor named Dr. Liebhaber. Meanwhile, she has bought a house in Italy. She says that she has had a hard life and deserves a place that makes her happy. She maintains that Benny does not know the language or customs in Italy and would therefore not be happy there; however, she promises to come and visit him sometimes. For a moment, Benny tries to tell her what happened at Briarbush, but she brushes him off, and he gives up.