October Sky
Chapter 22: We do the Math
Having the resouces of Coalwood, everything comes down to the Rocket boys. Sonny has no choice but to do the math to determine the best way to build the nozzle for their rocket. The math require to do this is a lot higher level then what Sonny has done before. Miss Riley is impressed with the math Sonny has done and she goes the the pricipal about his math skills. Sonny takes a quiz to confirm that he knows what he is talking about, they then decide that he will represent the high school the the science fair. After one of their rockets land in a field they come to an excpetional discovery on ginseng, their find will be able to help them pay for the things the boys need. Although the Rocket boys are doing extremely well , the town on the other hand isn't doing to well. The fued between the company and the union continues to climb. The chapter ends with gun shots fired into the Hickam house, just barely missing Homer.
Chapter 24: A Suit for Indianapolis
Sonny starts planning for his trip to the National Science Fair, he is later taken out to go get a suit. While he's there he sees John F. Kennedy, who is running for president. It was the first moment for the Rocket boys, the substantial ideas started to all run together when Sonny is given the chance to ask John F. Kennedy a question. Sonny simply asks him "What do you think we should do with space." Kennedy directs the question back him, and answers with the straightforward idea that they should go to the moon.
Chapter 23: Science Fairs
The chapter begins with Homer and Elsie deciding what they are going to do about the gunshot. They settle with not calling the cops, even with them relativley convinced who shot at him. Elsie doesn't approve to just allow things to be the same, she tells the family that she is buying a house in Myrtle Beach with the money she saved and invested in the stock market. Sonny then learns that Miss Riley has cancer, he doesn't take the news well because he really likes her but it makes sense to him considering she had began to show signs of it. Without Miss Riley being able to help Sonny now has to do a lot more work on his own for the science fair. Since only one name is allowed on the science fair signup Sonny is completely alone with his project. While the science fair is going on Sonny begins to fear that there is a lot of local politics that will make it difficult for him along with the judges' concern about promoting rocketry because it is thought to be very dangerous. Sonny ends up winning the science fair, even though the local strike had begun and the help Sonny recieved from the mechinist had to of crossed regualtions to do so. The ending of this chapter Sonny's cat is killed, he believes that the car that hit Daisy Mae belonged to the same person that shot at his father. In addition to that he realizes the main trouble maker has abandoned town and decides that he was better off not knowing who had killed Daisy Mae.
