Danny, the Champion of the World

William wakes Danny up at 6am on Friday, and they get to work slicing open the plump raisins, squeezing out the insides, and refilling them with powder from the sleeping capsules. William sews the filled raisins back up with black cotton thread. While William is sewing, he starts to talk to Danny about Danny’s mother, his wife who died soon after Danny was born. William reminisces about her wonderful sewing and knitting, telling Danny that she made all their clothes. Danny stays quiet as his father shares that she used to talk about their future children, “‘I shall have three children’, she used to say. ‘A boy for you, a girl for me, and one for good measure’” (121). When Danny asks his father whether he used to poach when his mother was alive, his father shares that she used to poach with him and that “it was marvelous to have her along. She was a great sport, your mother” (122). Danny briefly sees the sadness his mother’s death has left in his father. By midday William and Danny have prepared over half the raisins, so they stop for lunch, but Danny is too nervous and excited to eat.