44 pages • 1 hour read
Time for Andrew: A Ghost Story
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Chapters 7-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
Drew wakes up in the closet and tiptoes down the stairs. He discovers Hannah sleeping in the rocking chair. He investigates the closet and the room and realizes that he has woken up in the past, in Andrew’s time. As Hannah stirs, he jumps into bed and lies still, trying not to frighten her. She touches his face and calls in the rest of the family, announcing that Drew’s fever has broken. Mrs. Tyler and Theo rush in to check on him. Mrs. Tyler is thrilled at Drew’s recovery while Theo worries about the fact that Drew doesn’t seem to recognize any of them. Dr. Fulton comes to evaluate him and confirms that his diphtheria has entirely cleared. Dr. Fulton insists that Drew will be back to his old “mischievous” self soon. Drew sees Dr. Fulton leave in a horse-drawn buggy and watches Hannah play fetch with the big family dog, Buster. Drew worries about having to interact with Buster, who is much bigger and scarier than Binky. Drew feels lost, like an actor who doesn’t know his lines. He wonders if he’ll ever be able to go back to his own time.
Chapter 8 Summary
Drew wakes up to a man standing over him. Forgetting where he is, he cries out and cowers. The man is Papa, Andrew’s father. Papa worries about his own son being unable to recognize him. At night, Drew tries to go into the attic to find Andrew, but Andrew doesn’t appear. Dr. Fulton returns and counsels Drew to get some fresh air. Drew marvels at how clean and kempt the house is, accidentally mentioning modern amenities like the highway and cars. Hannah brings out cookies and the latest Frank Merriwell adventure. Drew finds Frank Merriwell too noble and good to be particularly interesting. Hannah loves Merriwell and imagines she’ll marry a man like him one day.
Theo runs up with another boy who Hannah begrudgingly introduces as their cousin Edward. Buster immediately smells that Drew is not Andrew and barks menacingly at him. Edward makes rude comments about wishing Drew would have died of his fever and that maybe he is weak in the head now. Edward insists on asking questions like “who is the president” to test Drew’s intellect. As soon as Mrs. Tyler comes, Edward behaves politely in a smarmy way. It doesn’t fool Mrs. Tyler, who recognizes Edward must’ve tired Drew out. Drew takes a nap in the parlor and admires all the objects he had only ever seen dusty and derelict in the attic. He wonders who Edward is in relation to him.
Chapter 9 Summary
Drew eats with his new family and tries to copy their mannerisms. Mr. Tyler asks why Edward was visiting, wondering whether his father sent him to sniff about the property. Mrs. Tyler warns Drew not to solve squabbles with Edward in the “usual fashion” by “brawling in the streets” (57). Theo is clearly disappointed that Drew didn’t take on Edward more directly.
After dinner, Drew sits on the porch with Hannah and Thea and starts to feel comfortable with his temporary siblings. Drew asks why Edward seems to hate him so much. Theo explains that Grandfather left the house to Papa instead of Uncle Ned, creating a rift between the brothers. Uncle Ned took him to court, and now the brothers do not speak. Hannah thinks the whole thing is a waste since nobody will even care about the house in a hundred years. Drew knows otherwise and tries to offer to take care of it in the future.
Weeks pass, and Drew learns to play his part. He still makes mistakes, mentioning things from the future and not knowing things from the past, but he gets more comfortable. Everyone blames Drew’s lapses in memory on his fever. Only Buster continues to be suspicious of Drew. On a particularly bad day, after Papa yells at Drew for forgetting his manners, Drew retreats into the attic and cries, missing home. Suddenly Andrew appears at the top of the attic steps.
Chapter 10 Summary
Drew angrily asks why Andrew hasn’t shown up to switch back. Andrew is on the mend but still doesn’t have his full strength back. He asks Drew if they can remain in each other’s time permanently. He worries his fate was to die in 1910 and doesn’t want to risk going back. Drew is furious. He misses his family and wants to go home.
Andrew challenges Drew to a game of marbles; every day Andrew wins, he gets to stay in Drew’s time period. Drew tries to argue but Andrew talks around it, claiming that Drew would be acting dishonorably if he backed out of a gentleman’s agreement. Drew tries to run down the stairs, back to his own time, but the ghosts disappear and he runs into Hannah in his room. Hannah leads him back to bed, concerned that he’s speaking nonsense as if the fever has returned. Drew complains about wanting to go back to his time and trying to get his missing marbles back. Hannah offers to share her marbles and describes how Papa won’t let her play, claiming it is unladylike. Drew doesn’t know how to play marbles, though Andrew was plenty good at them. Thinking Drew has forgotten how to play due to the fever, Hannah agrees to give him marble lessons until he is as good as he used to be. Drew privately vows to get good enough to beat Andrew and return home.
Chapter 11 Summary
Hannah takes Drew to his first marble lesson in the cemetery behind the house. Drew is afraid but hides it from Hannah. Hannah senses that he feels spooked and imagines that his brush with death has made him see cemeteries differently. She points out the relatives buried there, including her sister Lucy. Hannah recounts when she and Lucy both had diphtheria but Doctor Fulton was unable to save Lucy. Sometimes Hannah would hear Lucy talking or laughing and even feel her hand in the dark. They pick flowers to lay on Lucy’s grave.
They clear a place to play marbles. Hannah shows Drew how to roll for the lag line and explains the rules of the game. Hannah takes off her shoes, claiming that she doesn’t care about being unladylike. They play all morning, but Drew feels hopeless. He doesn’t know how he’ll beat Andrew. Hannah tries to cheer him up and challenges him to climb a tree with her. Drew climbs high up with her, terrified but wanting to impress her. At the top, they spot John Larkin driving to the house in a motorcar. Hannah rushes down the tree; she doesn’t want John to see her so unkempt. Buster barks at the car, and Mrs. Tyler insists Drew do something to subdue the dog. Somehow, Drew puts two fingers in his mouth and whistles loudly, causing Buster to stand down. Drew is mystified; normally he is unable to make that kind of sound. For a moment, reality bends and Drew sees Andrew in the present. Drew briefly loses consciousness and retreats to the bathroom to wash his face. He wonders if his identity is getting absorbed by Andrew’s life. He reminds himself that he is just playing a part and returns outside to ride in John’s Model T.
Chapter 12 Summary
John takes Hannah, Theo, Drew, and Mrs. Tyler for a ride in the Model T. Drew notices that Hannah behaves in a prim and proper way around John, but Drew prefers the version of her that takes her shoes off and plays marbles. John treats everyone to lemon phosphates and Drew to a chocolate sundae. The kids’ music teacher, Mrs. Armiger, comes into the shop. Everyone seems to expect Drew to cause some kind of racket, but he is very polite. Theo blows bubbles in his drink, gets in trouble with Mama, and apologizes. He is miffed that Drew didn’t participate at all. Mrs. Armiger remarks on how Drew couldn’t possibly be the same boy who put glue in her metronome and snuck out during his recital. When Theo can no longer suppress his laughter, Mama volunteers him for music lessons as well. Theo is angry at Drew and refuses to get in the car with him until Mama drags him in. Drew wonders why he never saw any pictures of his family in the Model T. He thinks that maybe this whole arrangement with Andrew is dangerous. Drew feels incredibly lonely.
Chapters 7-12 Analysis
As Drew actually steps into Andrew’s life and encounters the personal and social expectations that come with being perceived as Andrew, Drew struggles to adjust and must deduce the rules of his new world. This section highlights Drew’s discomfort and inability to fit in. He describes himself as an actor who doesn’t know his lines and worries that speaking at all will give him away. Though his inability to participate is rationalized as recovery, he begins to perceive the different standards for how a boy or young man should act, Defining Masculinity and what it means to those around him. Papa mentions how he doesn’t want Drew to solve problems “in the usual fashion” by “brawling in the streets” (57), indicating that Andrew had a penchant for physically fighting with his cousin. When Drew fails to engage with a verbally cruel and abusive Edward, Theo expresses disappointment that Drew did not confront Edward more directly. Drew’s reluctance to engage in physical altercations contrasts with the more aggressive expectations of masculinity present in Andrew’s time.
The differences between Drew and Andrew come to a head when Andrew tricks Drew into making a deal to stay in their switched time periods until Drew can beat Andrew at a game of marbles. Though Drew tries to push back, Andrew performs rhetorical trickery, accusing Drew of backing out of a gentleman’s agreement that he never made. Andrew is more coercive and rests his argument on an honor code that he considers to be morally binding. Though Drew does not agree with the conventions of the gentleman’s agreement, he cannot see a collaborative and mutually agreed-upon way out of the situation. Drew is able to observe firsthand Andrew’s mischievous and brazen nature and see the kinds of social rules that govern his behavior. Later, when Theo expresses his disappointment that Drew didn’t participate in any mischief during Mama’s women’s group meeting, Drew can understand the type of brother Theo wants and expects him to be.
The contrast between past and present societal attitudes expands beyond Drew’s own masculinity. Hannah’s character embodies a challenge to the era’s gender norms. In Chapter 11, she disregards the expectations of ladylike behavior by taking off her shoes and playing marbles with Drew, suggesting a progressive attitude that contrasts with the rigid societal norms of her time. Her willingness to climb trees and engage in unladylike activities represents a subtle form of resistance to the gender roles imposed upon her, aligning with changing attitudes toward gender equality and self-expression. Despite her disavowal of ladylike behavior, Drew notices how Hannah changes around John Larkin, speaking more politely and avoiding some of the rougher, more unkempt behaviors she exhibits around her siblings. Drew can sense the tension this creates in Hannah. With his modern sensibility, he prefers the version of her that doesn’t feel constrained by her gender role, who freely climbs trees and plays marbles.
In these chapters, Drew begins to look more critically at his own identity, beginning a journey toward Personal Growth and Confidence. In Chapter 10, Andrew suggest trading places “for keeps,” forcing Drew to confront the possibility of losing his own identity. The game of marbles becomes a symbolic battleground for control over their respective fates. Drew takes several meaningful steps toward becoming a more active and self-assured character. He privately vows to get better at marbles and enlists Hannah to help him learn how to play.
Drew encounters an obstacle when he begins to participate more in his new life, finding he is losing some elements of his own personality. He tries to copy mannerisms and makes mistakes. He gets in trouble for forgetting his manners and worries that he is losing pieces of himself. This fear becomes a reality when he momentarily absorbs Andrew’s ability to whistle for the dog. This literal merging of identities serves as a metaphor for Drew’s emotional experience performing life as a completely different person. The experience of being Andrew has begun to genuinely change him, and he must choose how he wants to define himself before becoming lost altogether.
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By Mary Downing Hahn
