Spies: Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

The older Stephen is seeing his memory unfold in front of him, as his younger self sits in the lookout with Keith’s mother. She seems even more “perfect” than she was before, because she has more make-up on and a scarf around her neck. Only now does Stephen realize how desperate she must have been to be asking a child like him for help. He tries to piece out the way she broached the subject of asking Stephen to deliver a shopping basket to the man. He wonders if she ever explained to him why she couldn’t ask Keith, but Stephen knew there was something “unthinkable” about it. Stephen remembers that his younger self had been sure that the man was a German, regardless of his complete identity.

Keith’s mother explains that the man (who she only refers to as “he”) does not have a ration book and is really sick. She pleads with Stephen to deliver the basket, but in his mind he’s caught up in the thought that the man is a German, making all this indefensible. Stephen finally suggests that Auntie Dee could deliver the basket, but then Keith’s mother starts to cry and he realizes that though Auntie Dee had been helping Keith’s mother before, she won’t anymore—because, Stephen thinks, Auntie Dee was the one who first found the German airman and “took him to her bosom,” but then, because Stephen made the croquet box be taken away, Keith’s mother had to deliver the messages and supplies in person, and so she became the man’s lover instead.

Keith’s mother cries harder, and Stephen feels awful. Stephen thinks that he has turned Keith’s mother and father against each other, and Keith’s mother and Auntie Dee against each other. Feeling that he’s “ruined everything”, he apologizes. Then he sees Keith’s father come from the backyard and start looking around for his wife. As Keith’s mother tidies herself up to go back to the house, she tells Stephen that he doesn’t have to worry about the basket—she’ll “think of some other way to do it.”

Keith’s mother keeps speaking, mostly to herself, about how cruel life can be sometimes, and how much things have changed from how they once were. She looks at Stephen with a “wan smile” and Stephen feels as if he is leaving his child’s world, which contains its own terrors, and entering a newer, adult world with even darker secrets. Keith’s mother says she has to go, and tries to take the basket with her, but Stephen stops her and takes the basket out of her hand. Keith’s mother is surprised and grateful, and she kisses Stephen on the forehead.

After Keith’s mother leaves, Barbara comes into the lookout, asking what Keith’s mother had said. Stephen tries not to reveal anything, and in turn, Barbara starts mocking him, but also expressing subtle jealousy at Stephen’s silence. Stephen is upset by Barbara’s attitude and feels miserable. Barbara accuses Stephen of possibly being Keith’s mother’s boyfriend, and Stephen finally cries out that he thought Barbara wanted to be friends. Barbara then smiles and starts acting nicer again. She takes out a cigarette from her purse, which they light together and start to smoke.

As they are smoking, Barbara looks through the basket, which contains eggs, bacon, potatoes, carrots, Spam, corned beef, and medicine for a fever. Barbara then finds a sealed envelope, which she tries to open. Stephen takes it out of her hands, and Barbara leans forward and kisses him. Stephen can’t help thinking about the germs from her mouth, and he suddenly thinks “I’ve found a value for x.” Barbara then sits on top of Stephen and reaches for the bayonet. She uses it to slit the letter open, despite Stephen’s desperate protests.

At that moment Keith’s father approaches the lookout and asks Stephen to have a word with him. Barbara hurriedly puts the items back in the basket, and whispers to Stephen that he mustn’t let Keith’s father have it. Keith’s father tells Stephen to bring the basket with him, and they walk to the garage. Stephen notes that Mr. Hayward is finally addressing him directly, calling him “old chap” as if he were Keith. Stephen steels himself and resolves to not hand over the basket.

In the garage, Keith’s father goes to his workbench and tells Stephen to stop playing silly games. Stephen notes that this conversation must be difficult for Keith’s father to have as well, and Stephen realizes that adults are not all that different from himself. Keith’s father then says “game over” and asks him to hand over the basket. Stephen initially refuses, shocking Keith’s father, who cannot do anything but keep asking. Stephen states that deciding not to hand over the basket is the bravest thing he has done in his entire life. But when Keith’s father finally says “please” in a pleading voice, Stephen gives in and hands over the basket. He feels awful, and says that this is “the weakest and most cowardly thing” he’s done in life.

Keith’s mother suddenly comes into the garage and finds the two. She sees the basket, which has clearly been rummaged through, and tries to take it, but Keith’s father moves it out of her grasp. There is a long and terrifying silence, and finally she tells Stephen to go find Keith and “cheer him up.” Stephen runs out and finds Keith, who is struggling with his math homework. Neither boy says anything. Stephen then runs into the street, where Barbara tries to question him, but he keeps running all the way to his “Mummy.”

Stephen cries uncontrollably as his parents try to comfort him. They ask him what’s wrong, but he won’t tell them. Stephen’s father suggests that his troubles might seem not so bad in the morning. Stephen goes to bed but has trouble falling asleep, and he notices that the new moon will be the following night. Stephen thinks about the man dying in the hole in the Barns, and feels guilty and unhappy. Finally he gets up and goes to sleep between his parents, like he used to when he was younger, but this doesn’t comfort him and he feels claustrophobic. His parents wake up to find Stephen crying next to them, but he still won’t explain what’s wrong.

When the morning comes, Stephen finds that none of his problems are gone, but he does realize what he needs to do—he needs to go find the man and bring him some food and medicine. Stephen then spends his whole day at school lost in thought. When he comes home, he gathers food from the pantry (his parents’ emergency rations) and pills from the medicine cabinet, and makes a makeshift package for the man. Stephen then goes to the Barns by himself to deliver it.

Stephen again passes through the Cottages, with their barking dogs and dirty children. The dogs lunge at him and a child throws a stone at him, but he makes it through. He then reaches the Barns, and hears the man coughing under the sheet of corrugated iron. Stephen imagines Keith’s mother coming here, leaving her world of “silver ornaments and silver chimes” and descending into this “underworld.” Finally Stephen leaves the things at the top step of the man’s hiding place. He turns to go, but then the man calls out his name: “Stephen?”