A Corner of the Universe

Leila and Hattie cannot calm Adam. He knocks Hattie away from him, hurting her. Adam rocks the car, pulls the safety bar over their heads, and stands up. Leila and Hattie try to make him sit down. Other passengers call encouragement to the girls, and shout for the police. Adam gets one leg out of the car and climbs on the metal structure of the Ferris wheel. Hattie and Leila desperately hold onto his other leg while Adam fights and tries to kick them off. Hattie realizes that Adam is terrified. The ride begins to move. They arrive safely on the ground where a large crowd has gathered, and the police are waiting. Policemen grab Adam, who is still fighting, and put him in handcuffs. The girls are bruised and cut up, but okay. Dad and Papa arrive in time to learn that the police are sending Adam to the hospital in a straitjacket. Hattie admits to Dad that she did not ask Nana and Papa’s permission for Adam to join her. 

Papa pulls strings at the hospital, so Adam comes home the following day. Hattie’s family is angry with her, and she is angry back at them, and even frustrated with the boarders. She wishes she lived in a normal household. Mom and Dad forbid Hattie from leaving the house; Nana forbids her from going to the carnival and seeing Leila or Adam. Hattie accuses the adults of not thinking about Adam, which Mom tersely denies. Hattie decides not to speak to any of them. The Strowsky family—a sad-faced single woman with two sorrowful children near Hattie’s age—moves into the guest room at the boarding house. Mrs. Strowsky’s husband died, and she is looking for a job and a place to start over. Hattie frets about Adam, wondering what he is doing in Nana and Papa’s house all day. Hattie feels that she really does not know Adam, but at the same time, feels like they are very much alike. 

Hattie gets to know shy Catherine Strowsky, who will be in seventh grade with Hattie next fall, if she and her mom and little brother Sam stay in Millerton that long. Adam arrives in a happy mood, carrying a bunch of flowers clearly pulled out of the ground. Adam asks after Angel Valentine. Hattie offers to knock on Angel’s door, but Adam impulsively pushes open the door to Angel’s room without knocking. They catch Angel and her boyfriend, Harry, in an intimate moment: Harry has on pants, but no shirt, and Angel is topless. Adam stares at her naked chest as she quickly buttons her blouse. Hattie also stares, fascinated at seeing what couples do privately. Adam wails and runs away. Hattie angrily shuts Angel’s door and follows Adam back to Nana’s house. When Hattie explains what happened, Nana is angry at Hattie for letting Adam up to Angel’s room, claiming Hattie should have known better. Hattie realizes she is similar enough to Adam to know what he is thinking, but she does not want to be like him. She defies Nana and goes to the carnival to see Leila.

The carnival is closed, and workers are busy packing up. Leila’s uncle Jace tells Hattie that Leila and her family have already left for the next town. Crushed, Hattie runs to a nearby park and cries. She mentally curses Nana—something she has never done before. Hattie worries that she did not get to say goodbye or explain, and wonders if she was a good friend to Leila. Hattie sees police at Nana’s house and learns that Adam is missing. Nana and Papa anxiously ask if Hattie has seen him, then tell her to go home. A search begins while Hattie stays with Miss Hagerty. She asks the older lady what is actually wrong with Adam, but Miss Hagerty can only say that he is “funny” or perhaps “mentally ill,” which does not help Hattie understand. Hattie and Catherine commiserate with each other over their losses. Mom and Dad wake Hattie later that night to tell her Adam hanged himself. Hattie is sad but unsurprised.