How It All Goes Down
- Our narrator tells us about his or her grandfather, Abraham Portman. We don't know our narrator's name yet. Could it be Natalie?
- Grandpa Portman (don't call him Grandpa Abe) fought in wars, performed in circuses, and spoke three languages.
- His grandchild wanted to be an explorer, used to pretend to be a pirate, and dreamed of traveling the world.
- Grandpa used to tell the "tallest tales" (Prologue.4) about monsters with tentacles coming out of their mouths, and how he used to live in a magical place where no one got sick or died, and they all lived in a house protected by a wise old bird. Sounds like Sesame Street… well, without the tentacles.
- Grandpa tries to convince "Yakob" (Prologue.11) that he's telling the truth. He even has pictures of all the "peculiar" (Prologue.13) children, like the invisible boy or the levitating girl.
- Jacob tries to believe Grandpa, but eventually he can't do it anymore. He stops asking Grandpa to tell him stories, and Grandpa stops sharing.