Messenger: Chapter One Summary & Analysis

Matty is impatient to finish preparing and eating supper, as there's something scary he needs to do. He's no longer a boy, but he's not quite a man either. Matty lives with a blind man named Seer, and they go through their familiar, friendly argument as they prepare supper: Matty wants to throw ingredients together quickly, while Seer wants to teach Matty how to cook properly. Seer teases Matty about a girl who suggested she'd kiss him if he had sweet breath. He jokes that Matty could trade his fishing pole for a kiss, but Matty and Seer then decide that trading is no longer a thing to laugh about.

Seer coaches Matty through sautéing onion and then adding rabbit, even though Matty complains about wanting to get outside before dark. Matty refuses to answer what he's going out to check; he's afraid of it and doesn't know what it means. Finally, after supper, Seer picks up his stringed instrument and Matty creeps to the door. Seer tells Matty to light a lamp and tells Matty that he remembers what Forest was like at night, back when he could see. Matty asks if Seer was afraid of Forest like everyone else is, but Seer says cryptically that, "it's all an illusion."

Matty takes a meandering route to Forest so he can pass by the schoolteacher's house. The schoolteacher's name is Mentor, though some children call him "Rosy" because he has a bright red birthmark that covers half of his face. In Matty's old settlement, Mentor would've been killed for the flaw, but in Village, such things are valued. Matty admires Mentor because he's a patient and kind teacher, but he really wants to see Mentor's daughter, Jean. Jean is the girl who promised Matty a kiss, and she often spends time in her garden in the evenings. Unfortunately, nobody is home, but Matty draws a heart with their names in it in the dirt by her garden.

Matty's friend Ramon comes around the corner and surprises him. Ramon invites Matty for supper, and Matty thinks that Ramon's homeplace is fun—his parents recently traded for a Gaming Machine, which has a handle that makes three wheels spin. If the wheels all stop and show the same picture, the machine spits out candy. Matty never asks what they "sacrificed" for the Gaming Machine. He tells Ramon that he has an errand to run and insists he has to go alone to deliver a message. It's a lie, which feels strange to Matty—as a child lying was a habit, but in Village, lying is wrong.

Matty follows Forest's paths. He's comfortable in Forest and knows where to go. Others, however, don't enter Forest because it's dangerous for them. Forest sometimes violently murders people who try to leave Village, but it lets Matty pass untouched. He once told Seer that Forest likes him, and Seer suggested that Forest needed Matty. The people need Matty to ferry messages for them, and he hopes to one day get the "true name" Messenger. Matty heads to a clearing, squats, and listens. He makes a sound and moments later, a small frog appears and croaks at him. The frog sits quietly in Matty's hand as Matty inspects its body. Trembling, Matty finds what he's looking for and puts the frog back down. As Matty returns to Village, he hears keening—people singing in lamentation about a death.