Pigeon English

This section opens on the crime scene of the dead boy outside of Chicken Joe’s. The neighborhood has shown up to offer flowers and other tokens of sympathy in light of the shocking tragedy. Harri’s stream of consciousness provides cursory detail about the deceased, as he remarks on the dead boy’s athleticism and how they were only “half-friends,” since Harri is younger. However, Harri’s desire to solve the crime stems from his awareness that the dead boy was a good person. He remarks: “I said a prayer for him inside my head. It just said sorry. That’s all I could remember. I pretended like if I kept looking hard enough I could make the blood move and go back in the shape of a boy” (4). He observes the crowd and mulls over the nature of death. At the dead boy’s funeral, Harri and Dean begin their official investigation in search of the killer, carefully observing all of the attendees and looking for signs of guilt.

Readers are familiarized with Harri’s basic biographical information: he is in Year 7 at his school, he is the fastest runner in his year, and he and his family live on the ninth floor of their fourteen-floor tower.