Pages 74-172

Minna arrives at the boys' school one day with his brother Gerard. He tells the boys that he is leaving and doesn't know when he is coming back. Before going Minna gives Linoel a book on tourette's syndrome and this is the first time he's heard of it. Once Minna is gone the boys barely speak to each other. Lionel tries to a few medications for his tourette's but the side effects are worse then his actual disease. Linoel and the other boys attend High school and Linoel becomes a nobody, an 'invisible man' despite his tourette's. Three years go by before Minna comes back again, yet he has changed completely. He now has a wife and is more hardened. Minna doesn't have time for explanations and doesn't look at the world in a humorous way like he used too. Minna tells the boys to drop out of school in their senior year, and they start working for him. They are a detective agency yet their cover is L&L car services. The book goes back into present time where Linoel starts to investigate Minna's murder. Linoel is wary of the rest of the group and hesitant to what he is told although Tony is trying to become the new Minna.

So far I have seen growth or change as a constant theme. The obvious change is in Minna when he comes back much different than he left. The most important change I think is in Linoel. Once Minna died he broke from the 'stupid' stereotype and is now taking things into his own hands. He becomes more tough and represses his urge to shout out words more.

I have also noticed that the tourette's syndrome is being referenced a lot in many other aspects. The city itself is said to have some compulsive tendencies that can be called a 'tic.' Linoel notices some tics in people, such as when he waves at a man and he waves back seemingly involuntary. The most recent event where this is mentioned is on page 162 when Linoel takes a phone call in a restaurant. A man sitting by explains to him that he has been to all these fancy resturants the past week where people have been yaking on their phones. The man is upset because he thought that he could enjoy a hot dog without hearing people yak on their phones. He ends the conversation by yelling out "Fucking people talking to themselves in a public place like they got some kind of illness!"
Another important factor I found is that Linoel specifically says he has five hot dogs. He mentions that he has dropped the number 6 possibly because his tic was subtracting a digit for Frank. Yet, he realizes that he should be at four since him, tony, Gilbert, and Danny minus Frank came to four. On page 135 he says "I had an extra aboard, but who? Maybe it was Bailey. Or Irving." Baily is referring to a name that he picked up somewhere as a kid and has become a constant tic he goes back too. Irving is the name of the joke Minna mentions.