Something Wicked This Way Comes: Chapter 19 Summary & Analysis

As Jim and Will chase a twelve-year-old Mr. Cooger down the street, they can’t believe what they have just witnessed. “Twenty-eight!” yells Jim. “Twenty-eight times!” Will had been counting too, and he never once took his eyes off Mr. Cooger. Suddenly the man/boy turns and runs down Miss Foley’s street, then he turns and runs right through her front door.

“Her nephew…?” questions Will. Impossible, says Jim. “You see his face?” Jim asks. “The eyes, Will! That one part of people don’t change, young, old, six or sixty! Boy’s face, sure, but the eyes were the eyes of Mr. Cooger!” As the boys approach the house the front door opens and Miss Foley steps out. She smiles down at the boys. “Robert?” she yells into the house. “Come meet two of my students.”

Robert steps out of the house. “We got to tell you a terrible thing,” Will blurts out to Miss Foley. Jim elbows Will to “shut him up,” and suddenly, Will remembers seeing a sign outside of Mr. Crosetti’s shop: “CLOSED ON ACCOUNT OF ILLNESS.” Will tells Miss Foley that Mr. Crosetti has died. “What…the barber?” Miss Foley asks. “What a shame.” Jim offers his hand to Robert. “You look familiar,” Jim says.

Jim shakes Robert’s hand and finds himself staring into Mr. Cooger’s eyes. “I’m taking Aunt Willa to the carnival,” Robert says. “Join us?” Will makes a quick excuse and the boys quickly run from the porch. Once they have reached a safe distance, Will tells Jim that he has finally figured out why the calliope music has been bothering him. It was Chopin’s “Funeral March” backwards, he says. “Mr. Cooger was marching away from the grave,” Will says, “not toward it.” The boys turn and run down the street.