Liar & Spy

Bob English passes Georges a note in science class, and Georges reflects that he’s starting to like Bob English a lot. At lunch, Dallas and Carter make fun of Georges, bumping into him and chanting “geek.” Georges thinks about his family’s Seurat poster and recalls his mother’s advice to think about the “big picture” rather than focusing on the unimportant “dots” (90) that make up daily life. At home after school, Georges watches one of the America’s Funniest Home Videos tapes that his mother recorded for him. Later, in Safer’s apartment, Georges learns from Safer’s mother that Safer and his siblings were allowed to name themselves. She explains, “[B]y the age of two or so they had expressed who they were and what they cared about most. We just sort of—interpreted” (92). Georges tells her that he was named after Georges Seurat, the artist. He explains that Seurat was kind of part artist and part scientist in his approach to color theory, and that this matches his parents, for his father is an artist, and his mother a science person. Safer is concerned when Candy says they were telling Georges about their names, but Candy assures him they only explained hers and Pigeon’s.