“When I was a youngster, I was filled with hope. But I was trouble, too. Trouble with a capital T, Mom said. Always poking my nose where it didn’t belong, getting into mischief. Nobody thought I’d amount to much. But young as I was, I knew better. There was a job for me out there in the world, something big and important. All I had to do was find out what it was. Meanwhile, I had to stay out of trouble.”

The contemplative tone of Jack’s descriptions firmly establishes him as a retrospective narrator. In this passage, he recalls the inexperience and determination of his younger years, and his fond view of his younger self indicates that this will be a positive story with many life lessons. The retrospective narration also provides a distinct difference between Jack as the narrator and Jack as the protagonist. As the narrator, Jack conveys the associated emotions of his past actions and personality, while as the protagonist, the younger Jack gives the book’s intended young audience someone to relate to. Jack’s narration therefore normalizes “trouble with a capital T” as an inevitable aspect of childhood and growing up.

“Then, while we pups swarmed around his ankles, he’d fill one big bowl for us. The second he set it down, we’d attack like a pack of ill-mannered bloodhounds. Even I would forget about making a good impression. I’d push and shove and keep my nose right in there. A day without a full belly wasn’t a day I wanted to live. Well, that’s how you think when you’re young, before you see the long road ahead. Full-belly days are all you know.”

Here, Jack’s retrospective narration hints at the trouble that the young Jack will face in the coming chapters. It also suggests that Jack has found better times than the ones he hints at here, and thus, Hobbs delivers a small reassurance in the midst of her foreshadowing about darker times to come. For young Jack, this excerpt comes right after Jack describes how he used to try to behave like a business-oriented pup.