Black Swan Green: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

On the last day of school in 1982, Jason steals an expensive Casio calculator out of Neal Brose’s bag. Holly Deblin notices but stays quiet. Unborn Twin, one of Jason’s inner voices, thinks Holly might like Jason. Jason takes a vise that they’re using in class for a project and uses it instead to crush the calculator. Mr. Nixon calls Jason to his office. He says that he’s heard that Jason’s dad recently lost his job, on the same day as the Goose Fair a few weeks ago.

Mr. Nixon tells Jason that destroying Neal Brose’s calculator won’t help undo his dad’s job loss. Jason says he was only getting back at Neal for trying to extort money from him, then bullying him when he refused. Mr. Nixon is interested to hear about this, but Mr. Kempsey is skeptical of Jason’s story. The men force Jason to wait in a storeroom while they consider the matter. Eventually, Mr. Kempsey gives a speech about the dangers of extortion to the whole class. Jason fears that everyone will think of him as “a grass” who collaborates with teachers. Gary Drake gets chastised at the speech, Wayne Nashend and Ant Little get suspended, and Neal Brose looks like he’ll be expelled.

When Neal Brose is missing in the next English class, Jason takes his seat. In class, they’re discussing what secrets are for a composition exercise. The teacher, Miss Lippetts,  brings up the topic of ethics, which relates to which secrets should and shouldn’t be made public. She uses Batman and Bruce Wayne as an example of a good secret to keep. Jason thinks of his own secrets, like Madame Crommelynck, his grandfather’s smashed Omega watch, and how Wilcox’s missing wallet led to Wilcox’s accident. When Miss Lippetts asks about what happens when secrets get out, Jason says they can harm a person’s reputation. He uses the example of Neal Brose, whose whole life is now “buggered” due to the secret extortions he was performing. The whole class is stunned to silence.

At home that day, Jason fears how his parents will react when they hear about his day in school. His mum is still in Cheltenham and his dad is out at Oxford for an interview. Julia calls home and Jason picks up. She says that Mum left a message with her to call back as soon as possible. They talk about how their dad reacted to the firing, dropping his hard drive out of his office window when a van from the company came to collect it. Julia broke up with Ewan because they’ll be living in different places. She’s now dating a Norwegian named Stian who is getting his PhD.

Julia asks Jason if he’s going with anyone to the school dance. Jason says just Moron and some friends. He mentions how he used to like Dawn (who is helping Wilcox get used to his plastic leg), but doesn’t feel that way anymore.

Later, at the dance, Jason runs into Pluto Noak, Gilbert Swinyard, Pete Redmarley, and an older boy named Josh in a hallway. Jason is afraid of them, since they kicked him out of Spooks, and Josh gets ready to beat Jason up. But Pluto explains that Josh is confused—he thought Jason was Neal Brose. It turns out Neal was picking on Josh’s younger brother, Floyd Chaceley. And so instead, Josh congratulates Jason.

The dance goes on as usual, but when Jason goes to the bathroom, he runs into Gary Drake. Gary just asks Jason if he’s all right, and Jason nods. Jason takes this as a sign of how his status has risen at school. Jason goes back to dancing. He thinks Holly Deblin looks at him and smiles but isn’t sure. Later, Jason thinks she’s gone home, but then he suddenly finds her again. After a brief conversation, they go to a back room and start to kiss.  The song “#9 Dream” by John Lennon plays in the background.

Holly asks what happened to Jason to make him decide to stand up to Neal Brose. She used to think he was a pushover. Jason isn’t sure and gets shy. They go back to kissing for the length of “Planet Earth” by Duran Duran.

When Jason gets home from the dance, his dad has gotten back from Oxford. Jason’s dad says they have to talk. Jason says he has two things to say first. Jason’s dad interrupts to say he heard about Neal Brose. Jason says he’ll pay for the calculator, but his dad says there’s no need. Neal Brose’s father apologized on behalf of Neal and doesn’t want the money. Jason’s father is sending him a check anyway, which he can choose whether or not to cash.

Jason says the second thing he wants to say to his dad is that he broke his grandfather’s watch. Jason is surprised at his dad’s subdued reaction. He says he’s glad that Jason’s accident wasn’t worse, like with Wilcox. He says Jason should hold on to whatever remains of the watch, in case the parts can be used to make a new one someday. He has no intention of punishing Jason, saying it seems like Jason already punished himself. Jason asks his dad for his news. After hesitating, his dad begins to tell him that he and his mum are getting divorced. He sounds like a TV soap actor when he says “Your mother and I…”