Rule of the Bone

After getting their tattoos, Russ and Bone decide they shouldn’t go back to the school bus. Russ knows about an empty summer home in Keene, so the two take a public bus, sitting separately in case someone is looking for two missing boys. A young man in the military sits next to Bone; Bone proceeds to tell him a made-up story about returning to Israel, which in the story is his ancestral homeland. Bone continues the story, including that he is the descendant of Jews and Native Americans and has been trained in tracking and survival.

After the bus ride, Russ leads Bone on a long walk to the summer home. It’s abandoned, and they cut open a screened-in porch to get inside. Russ tells Bone that his uncle is paid to keep an eye on the house, and as long as they keep the windows shuttered they’ll be fine. Bone learns the house belongs to the Ridgeways, who Russ thinks are artists or professors.

The two find canned food, hook up the water, and settle in to squat there until summer comes. While Bone is searching the house for marijuana, he finds a bag of joints and a gun; he keeps the gun hidden from Russ.