Essay Questions

Why does Miss Bush follow Kit after school?

Kit is a friendly and outgoing boy with a sunny disposition. He and Allie are close friends immediately and have a mutual respect for each other. When Kit starts to snap at Allie, and treat her with far less respect than he used to, Miss Bush notices. This makes her start to keep an eye on Kit, to see if this change in demeanor and behavior is a one-off thing, like the result of a bad day, or whether it is a more permanent change.

When she realizes that the formerly sunny young man is now gloomy and inconsiderate of his friends, and apparently pulling away from them, she beings to suspect that something else might be going on in his life. This is why she decides to follow him after school; she wants to see where he is going, who he has started to spend his time with, and to get some insight as to what might be the cause of these negative changes in his personality.

Why does Askew only make friends with what he considers to be "old" families?

Askew comes from an old mining family and he only wants to make friends with others whose history is the same. Although Bobby is suspicious of Kit, and thinks that Askew welcomed him into their group far too quickly, Askew feels that having ancestors who worked in the mines is validation enough.

Askew also wants everyone who plays Death to be connected to the mine in some way. This makes it much easier for the ghosts of the dead children they are portraying to connect with them and begin to possess them in some way. Being an "old family" is like a secret club with a special handshake from Askew's perspective. It is also why he views anyone who does not have that family heritage with great suspicion.