That Was Then, This Is Now: Chapter Summary and Analysis

Chapter 1: Summary

The narrative begins at Charlie’s Bar where sixteen-year-old Bryon and fifteen-year-old Mark often meet to hustle people at pool. Finding no one to hustle that evening, they ask the rough but likeable bartender, Charlie, to give them Cokes. Charlie warns them that they owe him three dollars. Mark in his quintessentially charming way convinces Charlie that they will pay him back the next day. Charlie also tells them that their friend M&M had come to the bar looking for them.

Mark has lived with Bryon and his mother since the age of nine when his parents killed each other during a drunken fight. Bryon tells the reader that Mark and he were friends even before that and had seldom had an argument.

Both the friends leave Charlie’s Bar and find M&M at the drugstore perusing Newsweek. Bryon, the narrator, finds this to be a curious choice for a thirteen-year-old but then he concludes that M&M has always been a bit ‘strange.’ M&M, who is a serious and sensitive boy, wears a peace symbol around his neck and is addicted to candies—a habit due to which he earned his nickname.

M&M tells the boys that his sister Cathy is coming home from school because she could no longer afford to pay for it. They contemplate going to the bowling alley, but the weather is hot, so Mark suggests they hotwire a car. Bryon dissuades him from doing this, mentioning that he is already on probation for the same crime. M&M asks Bryon if he was named after Lord Byron, clearly confusing his name with that of the poet. To play along, Bryon says yes.

Bryon continues to worry about the three dollars that they owe Charlie; he is afraid that Charlie, though kind, is also rough and will not be lenient if they do not pay him. Mark asks M&M for money who does not have it; however, M&M does offer Mark the little money he had earned by babysitting. Mark does not accept that. M&M then leaves the bowling alley to go home. Bryon and Mark also leave a little later only to witness M&M being attacked by a rival gang. Among those who were attacking M&M, Bryon could recognize the brother of a girl whom he used to date. Mark and Bryon enthusiastically join the fight and rescue the mild-mannered M&M, who is badly bruised. After the fight, Mark reveals that he has also managed to steal three dollars from one of the gang members and now they can pay Charlie back.

A rather shaken M&M is repulsed by Mark’s suggestion that they rob a black man who was walking alone. M&M feels strongly about this and tearfully tells Mark that they should not attack someone just because they are different. Mark is not too bothered by his words unlike Bryon who is affected and feels there was some truth in what M&M just said. They do not proceed with the mugging and return to Charlie’s Bar to see if they can hustle someone at pool.

Chapter 1_Analysis

This chapter introduces us to the narrator Bryon and his friend Mark, whose friendship forms the very crux of the novel. They are not just best friends; they are family. The style of narration is devoid of any sentimentality and is very matter of fact. It complements the stark and unforgiving realities of the lives of the underprivileged in this Oklahoma neighborhood in the 1960s.

In the very first chapter we get the impression that the world of Bryon and Mark is one where flouting the law is the norm. They are both underage but sneak into the bar and hustle people at pool and Mark has been arrested for hotwiring cars and is out on probation. Fights are routine and violence is an everyday affair. But we also meet M&M who is clearly a pacifist and whose disposition is completely opposite to that of Mark and Bryon. However, he is a good friend of theirs. And even in a world of lawlessness and violence, they still abide by a code of honor. Mark and Bryon do not hesitate to protect M&M when he is attacked. But it is not just a matter of protecting their friend, it is also apparent that both Mark and Bryon enjoyed violence. “We both liked fights,” says Bryon.

Despite the close relationship that they shared, as early as the first chapter, we can perceive the differences between the two best friends. Mark is not bothered by any scruples and, in fact, suggests mugging a black man right after the fight. Bryon, on the other hand, is more contemplative. Unlike Mark, Bryon is affected by M&M’s words and realizes that he was pointing out the truth when he said that one cannot just attack someone because they happen to be different. We can already anticipate the gulf that will separate these two friends later in the novel. It is significant that Bryon describes himself as a Saint Bernard, which indicates a sense of benign loyalty. Notably, he describes Mark as a lion, recalling a creature that is rather dangerous.