Boy Swallows Universe: Boy Busts Out Summary & Analysis

Eli is dreaming the magic car dream again. This time, the car is flying, and he and August are in the backseat. Eli says he doesn’t want to be in this dream anymore as the car hits the water, which reflects the full moon. August, unconcerned about breathing water, writes “Boy swallows universe” in the air. Eli picks up a hand to write back—but his finger is gone and bleeding. Eli comes to in a hospital room, his hand aching and heavily bandaged. Slim leans over him and helps Eli drink.

Slim tells Eli he’s in the hospital, and that Mum is with the police—and Eli won’t see her for a long time. When Eli asks what happened, Slim quietly says Eli knows what happened. Soon, a doctor will come in and want to know if what Mum told the ambulance crew is true: that Eli and August were messing with a Star Wars figurine and an axe, and August accidentally chopped Eli’s finger off. August, as usual, said nothing to the police.

Eli begs to know why Lyle was taken away. Sighing, Slim says Lyle was making side deals with Bich Dang; he was building up a stash to save for a few years. This is going to create chaos in Darra’s streets. Eli is crushed: this is his fault. He sobs that it was his idea to hide drugs to sell later. Slim, though, says Lyle has been doing that since well before Eli mentioned it. At this, Eli sobs again—Lyle lied to him. Eli sobs that he's going to tell the police everything so supposed saints like Tytus Broz and Bich Dang are arrested and can’t run the world anymore. Slim suggests that Eli not worry about that. Instead, Eli should consider why Mum lied to the police.

Eli is distraught, and he feels even worse when Slim says he and August are going to go live with Dad now. Eli imagines Mum’s dad, Mum’s kidnapper, and Dad all with Tytus Broz’s face. After a minute, Slim tells Eli that things will only get better from here. Eli asks if Slim is a good man. Slim says he’s good, but he's also bad—and all men are like that. Then, Eli asks if he’s a good kid, and if he’ll grow into a good man. He lists evidence for why he isn’t good, though Slim insists Eli is good and just on a lot of painkillers. Slim says that today, Eli can do a good deed by supporting Mum’s story, even though it means implicating August.

Just as Eli starts to share what August said, the doctor comes around the curtain. The doctor introduces herself as Caroline Brennan. She checks Eli’s finger and shocks him by saying she already knows his lost finger was special—it’s his pointer finger. She then explains that finger reattachment surgery is tricky at the best of times, but it’s impossible if there’s no finger to reattach. Dr. Brennan asks Eli to put up his middle finger and stick it in his nose. Eli smiles. She then asks to speak to Eli alone. Slim gives Eli a $20 bill, tells him there are fresh clothes in the closet, and leaves a phone number to contact him.

Once they’re alone, Dr. Brennan takes Eli’s blood pressure and quizzes him about Star Wars. The doctor says Darth Vader is her favorite character—terrible villains are the only way stories can have wonderful heroes. Eli can see where this is going. Just then, a boy with an IV drip appears in the doorway. He whines that the Tang is weak today and slouches away. Dr. Brennan explains that Christopher has a tumor in his head and then returns the conversation to Darth Vader. She says she’s seen a lot of terrible things as a doctor, but nothing as dangerous as the “bullshit” Eli is spewing now. She assures him there are heroes willing to help.

In a letter to Alex, Eli apologizes for his handwriting—he just lost his finger, and Dr. Brennan wants him to practice writing. He says the food in the hospital is pretty good. He’s been thinking about heroes and has decided that all it takes to be a hero is to follow one’s heart. Eli writes that he might not write for a while, since he has a quest to go on.

According to Slim, the way to escape prison is to truly believe the guards can’t see you. Eli describes Slim’s first escape from Boggo Road, which he did by believing he could do impossible things—like scale fences and be invisible—and then doing them. Now, Eli is prepared to emulate Slim and escape the hospital. All the kids in the children’s ward are in the play area, and Eli is sitting with Christopher. Christopher is annoyed the nurses won’t play his favorite TV show, but he listens wide-eyed as Eli tells him how he lost his finger.

Christopher is engaged, so Eli says he needs help creating a diversion. Eli tells Christopher what a diversion is and remembers how, to escape Boggo Road in 1953, Slim set a fire. Excited to help, Christopher pulls out his IV, walks to the TV, and screams that he wants a different show. As Christopher flips the TV over, Eli makes his escape, thinking the whole time of Slim. He thinks of how Slim made himself an escape kit and used a rope and grappling hook to scale the prison wall. Slim spent weeks practicing throwing matchsticks so he could be accurate with the grappling hook. The first thing he did out of prison was change clothes, so in the elevator, Eli pulls off his hospital gown to reveal street clothes underneath.

Two doctors join Eli in the elevator. Eli tells them he was visiting his brother, and now he’s meeting his parents outside. Eli confidently walks out the hospital doors and starts running, just as a security guard starts to pursue him. He’s only vaguely familiar with the area, so he hides until the security guard runs in a different direction. Eli crosses the street and approaches a homeless man to ask directions to the train station. The man just says “Batman” and points to a bat bite on his neck. He says he doesn’t need help, which confirms Eli’s suspicion that adult men are all awful. Eli shakes the man’s hand and follows his directions to the station.

As Eli runs, he passes a building with “The Courier-Mail” on the front. Slim has told Eli about this place: this is where people make the paper. Eli knows he’ll be part of it someday and file his own crime stories. As he hurries along, he thinks again of Slim and how in 1940, Slim was captured after stealing gas for his stolen car. Slim always told Eli he smiled when he was captured because his escape taught him that he was born so tall and lanky to be able to jump over walls. 

Eli bounds down the stairs toward the train platform—and falls on his face down the bottom steps. But he gets on the train, hoping it’ll stop at Darra. Fortunately, it does. Eli wanders toward home, wondering if he’s losing his mind or if the pain drugs are just wearing off. When he gets there, Eli realizes he doesn’t have a key. He’ll have to break in. However, before Eli can smash a window, the neighbor asks Eli if he’s okay and passes over an extra key. Inside, someone—probably Slim—cleaned up after the spaghetti. Eli finds something to eat and heads for Lena’s room.

Eli’s hand throbs as he opens the passage in the wardrobe. The heroin has to be here—but it isn’t. Eli even crawls down the tunnel to the outhouse cavity, where there’s a Styrofoam box. But the box is empty. Tytus Broz got the heroin first. Enraged, Eli smashes the box and sobs. He decides he’ll cry himself to death here, and Caitlyn Spies can write the story about his death for the paper. Eli sits down, falls asleep, and dreams of Caitlyn Spies on a beach. She’s playing with crabs and beckons for Eli to come closer. She tells him, “Your end is a dead blue wren” and asks if he's going to answer the phone.

Eli wakes up and hears Lyle’s red telephone ringing. He crawls back through the tunnel and picks up the phone. The man’s voice is the same as last time. The man tells Eli that he calls the number for Eli—773 8137—on this phone multiple times per day, even though Lyle said this phone doesn’t take calls. Then, the man asks if it’s close to Christmas, and asks Eli to tell him what happened. Eli gives a brief account and says he won’t be able to try to offer Tytus Broz the heroin in exchange for Lyle, because the heroin is gone. The man says Mum won’t survive Christmas Day. She’s at risk for suicide. Eli puts the phone down as the man starts to sing “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” and curls up on the floor, pretending he’s holding Irene—who turns into Caitlyn Spies.