Stargirl: Chapter 27 Summary & Analysis

Susan and Leo are riding to the state contest in Phoenix while Mr. McShane, the faculty advisor, drives. Susan is in a flirtatious mood, sitting in the middle seat so she can cuddle with Leo. She admits that she also invited Dori Dilson to come along, but that Dori is angry at her, seeing “Susan” as a betrayal of Stargirl. Leo feels uncomfortable at this, but Susan distracts him with her chatter about the victory parade she predicts tomorrow. She wants Leo to hold her big silver trophy plate so that she doesn’t drop it when the crowd rushes her.

Mr. McShane asks Susan if she’s heard of counting her chickens before they hatch, and Leo reminds her that a loss is possible, but Susan is confident, saying she’d rather celebrate now. She’s only nervous about what it will be like to be “adored by mobs of people.” Leo gives up reasoning with her.

Noticing the vibrant spring colors of the surrounding desert, Susan begs Mr. McShane to stop the car, and he relents. Susan jumps out of the car and whirls among the various cacti, pretending to wave to an adoring crowd. A little later, she stops and comes back, asking Mr. McShane if he knows of any extinct birds. Mr. McShane knows of a huge bird called a moa that died out in New Zealand. He’d done a report on them as a kid. But he doesn’t know if moas could sing.

Susan explains that she’d just heard a mockingbird in the desert, and it made her think of something Archie told her—that maybe mockingbirds don’t just imitate living birds, but that perhaps the sounds made by extinct birds have been passed down and preserved by mockingbirds—“pitching fossils into the air” as they sing.