“As far as I can tell, I’ve always been crashing—into people, into things, you name it, with or without a helmet.”

Crash Coogan’s aggressive personality bespeaks a boy boiling over with anger. He deals with it by attacking others, trying to hurt their feelings so he doesn’t feel so alone with his pain.

“‘Want to hold him?’ He handed me the turtle, and I took off on my bike. ‘Hey!’ he yelled. I steered with one hand and pedaled like a demon up the sidewalk. Then I quick-stopped, put the turtle on its back in the middle of the sidewalk, and called, ‘Ha-ha, tricked ya!’ I took off.”

Crash wants desperately to hurt Penn’s feelings—he hates it that Penn is so cheerful and hates it even more that such a dorky kid likes him—but he can’t bring himself to injure the boy. He steals the turtle but immediately sets it down for Penn to retrieve to demonstrate his power within the relationship. It doesn’t matter: Nothing he does really gets under Penn’s skin. It drives him crazy.

“I stormed up to the garage, over to the flower garden, out to the street, back to him. I took a deep breath. I got up in his face. I stared. I dared him to blink first. I wanted to hate him, I wanted to stay mad, but I was having problems.”

Penn is incapable of playing by Crash’s rules and frustrates Crash’s every effort to torment him. Penn doesn’t understand that he’s supposed to be hurt and offended. Even worse, Penn persists in befriending Crash despite everything. Penn is likable and innocent, which confuses Crash and provokes him to anger as he rejects that in Penn what he wishes he could be at home.