Pay It Forward

Chris is in bed with his girlfriend watching the news. They learn about Trevor’s hospitalization. Chris calls the hospital and learns that Trevor is in critical condition, Chris then asks the hospital to page Arlene. Arlene explains what happened and then says they don’t know anything else. She hangs up, and the news offers no updates. Chris falls asleep, and when he wakes up, he learns that Trevor has died on his fifteenth birthday. Chris travels to Atascadero, where Arlene’s house is “a sea of cameras and news teams by the time Chris arrive[s]” (270). Arlene won’t talk to them, but allows Chris inside. She asks him to make the reporters go away because she doesn’t want to talk to anyone. Chris says they are going to run the Citizen of the Month segment tomorrow with an update, and asks her for a brief statement. She agrees, and says there will be a memorial next Sunday and a candlelight march after.

Arlene and Reuben wake up. Reuben no longer tries to keep his disfigurement from her. They discuss what they should do between now and the candlelight vigil. Arlene says they have to talk about the fact that the baby might not be Reuben’s. Reuben says: “‘I was willing to sign on to raise Ricky’s last kid. Wasn’t I? and he turned out pretty good’” (273), which makes Arlene cry even though she thought she didn’t have any tears left in her. They hear a bunch of honking outside, but fall back asleep.

When they reawaken, they decide to take the GTO but get stuck in an unusual amount of traffic. The closer they get to the memorial, the more traffic there is. Eventually, they see policemen turning people away at a roadblock. They tell the cops who they are, and the cops tell them to leave the car there, escorting them on foot to a second police escort. The crowd parts to let them pass, and the cop tells Arlene and Reuben that they estimate more than 20,000 people have showed up to Trevor’s memorial, and that more are on their way.

Reuben and Arlene walk through the applauding crowd. They climb the stage to find Chris, who tells them that people are here from all over the world. Arlene is dizzy and doesn’t know what to say at first, then states that Trevor would be proud to see such support. She turns the microphone over to Reuben, who holds her for support.

Reuben speaks to the crowd, saying that he and Arlene never expected such a turnout. He says that everyone cares because “this is our world” (279), adding that the movement looked like it was going to work, but then Trevor’s death shook everyone’s faith. But he says the movement cannot stop because Trevor died:

If Trevor touched your life that much, then maybe you need to pay it forward. In his memory. In his honor. Twenty million people paying it forward. In a few months, that will be sixty million people…. We’d all be scrambling around trying to find people to do good for. We’d never know for sure if we were caught up. It would just keep going around(279-280).

He explains that at first, Trevor’s idea was met with criticism, but that looking out over all these faces gives Reuben hope.

Arlene and Reuben force Chris to march with them through the crowd of people holding candles. People stop to touch Reuben’s hand and tell him they will pay it forward.

A photographer takes a picture of the march, which wins him an award. He gives the picture to Reuben and Arlene as a wedding present, and it is used as the cover art for Chris’s biography of Trevor. The photographer gives half of the money from the photograph to Arlene and Reuben, who give the money away. The photographer gives the other half to charity. At first, the newspapers start printing acts of kindness, but “in a few months acts of kindness were no longer considered news” (284). In December, Reuben and Arlene return to Washington, D.C. with the new baby to attend a Christmas-tree-lighting ceremony, during which the president speaks of how Trevor lit up the world.

Ricky comes to see the baby, who he thinks is his child, but realizes when he sees her skin color that she is Reuben’s. Arlene says the baby looks just like Reuben did, when he was small. Arlene knows what Reuben looked like as a child from a photograph his parents brought to their baby girl’s birth, even though they didn’t know if she was biologically his. Ricky talks to Reuben about football and not knowing Trevor, then confesses that Cheryl threw him out. Reuben remembers Trevor saying that it is bigger to help someone you don’t want to help, so he writes Ricky a check for half of their savings after speaking with Arlene. Ricky is suspicious, but Reuben tells him to pay it forward and asks if he knows how. Ricky admits that when he was sleeping in the park last night, someone came up and gave him their coat. Ricky says that he’s obliged and Reuben says, “’But not to us”’ (288). Ricky leaves. Reuben kisses his daughter and joins Arlene in bed.