Rocket Boys

Someone has just tried to shoot Homer Sr. in his own home. There is a sound of screeching tires—whoever fired the shot is getting away. Homer is amazed at how calmly Homer Sr. is handling the incident. Homer Sr. remarks that he’ll be able to repair the bullet hole—which was made by a .22 bullet—and Elsie agrees. Homer Sr. suggests that the assassin was either Pooky or another disgruntled miner.

As Homer Sr. calmly discusses his would-be killer, Elsie interjects: she’s going to buy a house in Myrtle Beach. Homer Sr., confused, asks Elsie where she’d get the money for such a thing. Elsie calmly explains that she’s been investing Homer Sr.’s income in the stock market—at the moment, she could buy two houses if she wanted to. Elsie has been communicating with a New York stockbroker for years, cleverly investing in booming industries, such as Band-Aids. She informs Homer Sr. that she’ll be moving to Myrtle Beach, whether he wants to retire and join her or not. She’ll wait until Homer goes off to college. Homer Sr., utterly bemused, asks Elsie what the town will say—she cheerily replies that she doesn’t “give a shit.”

Afterwards, Homer goes to talk to his BCMA friends about the sudden events in his family. After he explains that someone tried to shoot his father, O’Dell asks him what kind of bullet the assassin used, and Homer answer that it was a .22. O’Dell laughs and says that this is only a pop-gun. Homer is irritated that O’Dell is taking this news so lightly. Suddenly, Billy tells the group that Miss Riley is sick with cancer, and has been for some time. Homer is crushed to hear this.

Homer goes to see Miss Riley after school. She looks sad and tired, and Homer finds himself tearing up as he talks to her. Miss Riley tells Homer that he’ll be representing Big Creek at the upcoming science fair on his own—as only one member of the BCMA is allowed to attend. Homer contends that Quentin would be a far better representative, but Miss Riley laughs—Quentin, she explains, would try to hard to impress the judges with his big vocabulary. Suddenly, she tells Homer that she’s been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease. While it’s possible that she’ll live a long life, there’s no surgical operation that can cure her. As a result, Miss Riley is constantly tired, and she won’t be able to attend the science fair with Homer.

The next day, Mr. Caton calls Homer and tells him that he’s no longer able to help Homer with his rockets—the union is officially on strike. Mr. Caton hasn’t finished Homer’s latest design—the Auk XXV, along with a selection of nozzles, casements, and nose cones for the science fair. Homer goes to talk to Mr. Caton at his store, where he also finds Homer Sr. Homer Sr. and Mr. Caton argue over how long the strike will last—it could be a day, or it could be months. Homer begs his father for help with the science fair, which takes place in only one week. Homer Sr. shakes his head sadly.

Homer is desperate to finish his rocket designs, so he and the BCMA hatch a daring plan. In the middle of the night, they sneak into the machine shop, find Mr. Caton’s lathe, and attempt to operate it themselves. The work is harder than Homer thought it would be, and for more than an hour he struggles to make a clean cut with the lathe. Suddenly, the door opens—it’s Mr. Caton. To Homer’s great relief, Caton puts a finger to his lips and whispers that he’ll finish the work himself.

Homer and the BCMA leave the machine shop, and Homer rides his bicycle back to home. As he rides, he passes a group of disgruntled miners, including Pooky. Pooky and his friends recognize Homer and chase after him. Homer manages to evade the strikers, making it back to his house only a few hours before he has to wake up to catch the bus to school.

There is a national wave of strikes, Homer reports. At the same time, Senator Kennedy is visiting West Virginia as part of his bid for the presidency. Kennedy has proposed sending federal assistance to the miners: free food and other resources. Homer Sr. finds this infuriating, since it means that the miners in Coalwood will try to “wait out” the mining company in the hopes that the White House will help them out.

It is the spring of 1960. One day, Homer pays a secret visit to Mr. Caton, where Caton gives him the nozzles, nose cones, and casements he’d promised. On Homer’s way home, Calvin Suggs, Pooky’s son, chases him, and Homer swings the heavy sack containing the nozzles and other rocket parts at his attacker. The sack slips out of Homer’s hands and sails into the nearby creek. Homer is furious—he punches Calvin in the chest and jumps into the creek, trying to recover the rocket parts.

Homer yells at Calvin for making him lose his rocket parts. Calvin looks confused, and mutters that he “just wanted to talk” to Homer, and he offers to help Homer look for his things. Calvin explains that he was going to ask Homer for help getting a job at Cape Canaveral. Homer angrily replies that it’ll be “a while” before he works there, and goes home. The next day, Homer is astounded to hear a knock at his door. It’s Calvin, holding the sack containing Homer’s nozzles and nose cones.

A few days later, Elsie drives Homer to the McDowell County Science Fair in Welch. Roy Lee drives the other members of the BCMA in his car. Homer is carrying his plans and equations for the rocket, along with all his rocket parts. Miss Riley is unable to attend. At the fair, Homer sets up his designs while O’Dell inspects the competition: Welch High School has elected to present on fossils and rocks. This seems to be the BCMA’s stiffest competition.

The science fair begins. A panel of judges walks around the room, asking questions of Homer and the other presenters. When the panel gets to Homer, their first question is, “You ever blown anything up?” Homer replies that he hasn’t, thinking about his mother’s rose-garden fence. Afterwards, the judges asks Homer a number of technical questions about his nozzles and equations. Homer boasts that his rocket can attain a height of three miles. Strangely, the judges seem unimpressed—they comment that Homer’s work seems very dangerous.

Homer and his friends go off to lunch. When they return, they’re astounded to discover that they’ve been awarded first prize for their rocketry—the BCMA will be moving on to the state science fair finals. Homer is overjoyed, and he can’t wait to tell Miss Riley and Homer Sr.

Homer returns to school, where he tells Mr. Turner about his success—Turner grins and congratulates Homer. Homer also tells Miss Riley, who’s extremely proud of Homer. Homer doesn’t tells his father personally, since he’s in the mines, but Elsie promises to let him know when he returns in the morning. In the following weeks, the BCMA is invited to the Coalwood Women’s Club, where Quentin boasts about their hard work and ingenuity.

Shortly after Homer’s victory at the science fair, Elsie and Homer Sr. leave for Myrtle Beach, since it’s the usual time of year for miners’ vacations. Homer has the house to himself for the week, which happens to be the week of the prom. Homer invites Melba June, the girl whom he danced with at the Christmas formal, to the prom, and she eagerly accepts. Homer learns that Dorothy has a new boyfriend, another college student, and Homer makes a point of “not caring.”

The BCMA schedules a celebratory rocket launch on the day of the senior prom. There is a healthy crowd at the launch, though Homer notices that the people divide along union and company lines. The Auk XXV attains a height of 15,000 feet, exactly as predicted. Homer has modified the Auk XXV by adding a layer of putty to the nozzle—this limits erosion, as Homer predicted it would.

After the rocket launch, Homer and his friends go to the prom. Homer walks into the gymnasium with Melba June. He has a wonderful night dancing and making out with Melba. A few days later, his mother and father return from Myrtle Beach. Elsie, delighted, tells Homer that Homer Sr. has agreed to retire from mining and go into real estate near Myrtle Beach after Homer goes to college in the fall. Homer Sr. seems as happy and excited as Homer has ever seen him.

Homer prepares for the area science fair in Bluefield. One day, while he’s in his room, he hears a screech of tires. Elsie and Homer Sr. yell downstairs, and Homer comes running down to them. He is shocked to see the bloody body of his beloved cat, Daisy Mae. Someone has run over Daisy Mae and driven away. At first, Homer thinks that this must be an accident, and he blames himself for letting Daisy Mae outside. Shortly thereafter, Roy Lee and the other BCMA members show up at Homer’s house—it’s as if they’ve sensed that something is wrong with Homer. Roy Lee promises to make whoever killed Homer’s cat “pay for it.” Homer realizes that the same person who tried to shoot Homer Sr. also killed the cat.

Homer attends the Bluefield science fair and proceeds with presenting the BCMA’s findings. He’s accompanied by his fellow BCMA members, though he’s the only official representative. Although Homer is distracted by the death of his cat, he’s surprised to find that the BCMA has again won the fair—a first for Big Creek High School. The BCMA will now be attending the National Science Fair. As an added bonus, the Air Force, which sends a representative to the area science fair every year, awards the BCMA a prize for “Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Propulsion.” The Air Force representative, an experienced major, tells the boys that their rockets are the most sophisticated he’s seen outside of Cape Canaveral.

A few days after the BCMA’s victory, Mr. Turner summons the BCMA onstage during a school-wide assembly. Turner and Miss Riley congratulate the BCMA in front of the entire school for their hard work, and for proving that Big Creek students are capable of anything. Homer is particularly gratified to see Miss Riley in such good spirits.

The night after the assembly, Homer hears a tapping at his window—it’s Roy Lee. Homer climbs outside, where Roy Lee explains that he’s found the culprit for Daisy Mae’s death, just as he’d promised. The killer was a member of the miners’ gang, a friend of Pooky’s. Roy Lee adds that Pooky has left town: Calvin, Pooky’s son, lashed out at him for beating his mother, and as a result the police chased Pooky out of Coalwood. Homer feels a sudden attack of sympathy for Calvin. Although Calvin had always been cruel to Homer, he helped Homer recover his rocket parts, and stood up to Pooky. Roy Lee offers to give Homer the name of the person who killed Daisy Mae, but he mentions that the culprit feels horrible about his crime. Homer thinks, and realizes that there’s no point in learning the name of the killer. “Justice” will come to him, just as it came to Pooky. Homer thanks Roy Lee for helping him, and privately senses that they’ll always be friends.

Alone, Homer goes down to his yard and scoops up a handful of West Virginia soil, putting it in a small fruit jar. He decides to take this jar with him to the National Science Fair in Indianapolis. He remembers hurting his father’s feelings by claiming that he’d never return to Coalwood. Homer sees how foolish he was to spite his father—Coalwood is in his blood, and always will be. Nevertheless, Homer finally feels comfortable pursuing his dreams of becoming a NASA engineer.