Depressed and lonely, Maniac ends up at Valley Forge where he decides to die. He refuses to allow anyone else to orphan him. The second night Maniac is there in a small cabin, two small boys show up, Piper and Russell McNab, brothers of John McNab. The young boys are running away from home. Maniac takes the boys back to the McNab house and ends up staying there. The house is dirty and messy and has cockroaches crawling everywhere. Maniac performs "heroic feats," to persuade Piper and Russell to go to school.
Piper and Russell dare Maniac to go to the East End (they don't know he used to live there). Maniac uses the dare to get the boys to go to school. While walking through the East End, Maniac encounters Mars Bar, who insists on racing him. A crowd gathers and they race. Maniac wins, beating Mars Bar and running the last few feet of the race backwards. Maniac regrets humiliating Mars Bar by running backwards; however, his actions cause Mars Bar to hate him (an individual) rather than white people in general.
At the McNab house, the Cobras (John McNab's group of friends) are building what they call a "pillbox" in the middle of the living room. The "pillbox" is a fortress to protect themselves against blacks. John envisions blacks from the East End attacking the West End all at once, probably in the summer. The idea of the fortress and the prejudicial attitude that prevails within the McNab household causes Maniac to feel dirty.
Maniac leaves the McNabs, choosing to sleep in the park. He could-n't stand what the McNabs were doing or the way they were thinking. Russell and Piper find him in the library and insist Maniac come to Piper's birthday party. Maniac agrees — as long as he can bring a friend. His idea is to bring Mars Bar and his intention is to teach the McNabs that blacks are human beings just like themselves, and to teach Mars Bar the same thing about whites.
