The Nickel Boys

As an adult in Manhattan, Elwood likes to watch the New York Marathon. He likes the spectacle’s camaraderie and hectic joy, remembering the silent nights he spent at Nickel, where a grave sense of isolation prevailed over the grounds despite the fact that all of the boys were facing the same horrors. At the New York Marathon, though, everyone happily cheers with each other and nobody is afraid to chant optimistic sentiments like, “You can do it.” 

Walking back from the New York Marathon, Elwood runs into Chickie Pete, who lived in his dorm at Nickel. As soon as Chickie Pete sees him and calls him over, Elwood can tell that his former classmate has been through tough times, since he seems like someone who recently got out of rehab. Hesitantly, he agrees to go for a beer with Chickie, so the two men duck into an old bar and talk about their time at Nickel without ever really addressing its horrors. Instead of speaking seriously about the abuse they endured, Chickie tells Elwood about other former Nickel students he’s run into over the years, eventually admitting that he has just spent a month getting sober, though this doesn’t stop him from quickly downing two beers.

Elwood remembers that Chickie Pete used to be a fantastic trumpet player, but Chickie says those days are behind him, holding up his knotted hands. This general story is all too familiar to Elwood, who has heard similar tales from other people who were forced to endure harsh treatment at such a young age. Since leaving Nickel, Chickie has been in the army, has worked odd jobs, and has found his way into trouble with the law. Most recently, he got into a bar fight that led to a court-ordered stint in rehab. When Chickie asks Elwood what he does for a living, Elwood is embarrassed to tell the truth, which is that he owns his own moving company and has a nice new office on Lenox Avenue. 

At one point, Chickie asks when Elwood left Nickel. “You don’t remember?” Elwood asks, but he stops himself from telling Chickie the truth, instead telling him that he was let out when his sentence was over. This is a lie Elwood has told time and again. In reality, he escaped Nickel. He has always loved the idea of students repeating the tale to each other over and over, letting the story of his triumph make its way through generations of boys. Now, though, he learns that nobody knows about his grand escape, since even Chickie Pete is unaware of how he left Nickel.

“Hey, hey, what happened to that kid you used to hang around with all the time?” Chickie Pete asks. Elwood pretends he doesn’t know who Chickie is talking about, so Chickie gets up to go to the bathroom. While he’s gone, Elwood thinks about how most Nickel Boys could have accomplished many things if they hadn’t been through so much trauma. As his mind drifts, he thinks about his failed relationship with Denise, and as he does so, he sees an ambulance whip by outside. As its colors flash across the mirror behind the bar, Elwood sees himself haloed in a red light that distinguishes him as someone who doesn’t belong in the free world. Suddenly, he feels like everyone can see this light around him, thinking that he and all the other Nickel Boys will forever be running from their terrible pasts. 

Elwood decides to leave when Chickie Pete returns from the bathroom, feeling suddenly angry that somebody like Chickie is still alive when his friend isn’t. Before he leaves, Chickie mentions that he’s looking for work, and Elwood half-heartedly promises to give him a call to hire him as a mover. On his way home, he thinks about how much he had liked the idea of his escape story circulating through Nickel. The fact that even Chickie doesn’t know this story depresses him. Ripping up the napkin upon which he wrote Chickie’s number, he makes his way back to his empty apartment.