Pay It Forward

Reuben, Arlene, and Trevor are packing up the car to leave for the airport. Trevor’s birthday gift from the White House is a complete set of encyclopedias. Reuben worries about Arlene’s sickness, and Arlene says she’s pregnant. Reuben hears Trevor in the distance. Arlene says she doesn’t know who the father is. They realize Trevor is not with them, and Reuben looks to see Trevor sprinting towards the men who are beating up Gordie and Sandy. Reuben runs after him, and Trevor tackles the guys beating up Sandy and Gordie and then faces the guy with the knife to the security guard’s throat. Reuben doesn’t make it there in time to stop the man from stabbing Trevor.

1994 Interview by Chris Chandler, from Tracking the Movement

Reuben attempts to recollect the night Trevor got stabbed, although he couldn’t entirely see the events, as they played out. He says he thought the man with the knife punched Trevor, and that for a second, Trevor turned to look at him and he thought “the danger had gone and my family was still all there” (265). Then Reuben saw the blood on Trevor’s hands and stomach, but that Trevor had said to him, it’s okay.