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The 60's (exposition background)
The vietnam war is raging and the space race is at it's peak. It is also a few weeks before the moon landing. -
Ramble street (exposition setting)
Ramble Street is a town in the USA. In the story, it is never specified which state it is in, but the description matches a mideastern suburb, possibly in Tennesse or Virginia. -
Major Chartacters (expostion characters)
Tammy is a young girl whose best friend moved away and didn't tell her. Muscle Man McGinty is a liar who constantly gets on Tammy's nerves by lieing about pretty much everything, like how Neil Armstrong Is his uncle. Kebsie is Tammy's best friend who moved away without Tammy knowing. -
Tammy's problem (rising action conflict)
Tammy decides to expose Muscle Man as a liar in front of her pals. Mucle man, after hearing the argument, lies about getting free ice cream every day, before everyone else and would have shared, but ate it all. This enrages Tammy and she angrily leaves. -
The letter. (rising action 1)
Tammy wants to get a letter to kebsie, but can't because she dosn't know where Kebsie lives. Muscle Man tries to help Tammy, but she thinks he is lying, since he does it so often. -
Telephoning Tim (rising action 2)
Tammy's family misses her brother, Tim, who is stationed alongside Mr. Pizzarelli's son Vinnie in Vietnam, so Tammy calls Tim on the phone. -
Good News (rising action 3)
Tim calls Tammy from vietnam and wants her to tell Mr. Pizzarelli that Vinnie is alive. -
Muscle Man Lies Again (rising action 4)
Muscle Man begins saying that he could take on everyone at once in kickball, which is an important part of Ramble Street life. Tammy belives that this is her chance to expose mucle man as a liar by beating him at kickball. -
The Big Game (rising action 5)
The kids of Ramble Street begin their game, and as previously predicted by Tammy, Mucle Man loses horribly, but even this doesn't expose Mucle Man. -
Worst Case Scenario (climax)
A military officer comes to the Pizzarelli home to tell them that Vinnie, is dead. Later Muscle Man asks Tammy If she wants to get her letter to Kebsie, and seeing no other option, accepts. -
Strange Notes (falling action 1)
Tammy fianally gets a letter back from Kebsie, but it sounds nothing like Kebsie. -
Homecoming (falling action 2)
Tim fianally comes home from Vietnam and begins fighting with his dad about "working for the man" and other radical ideas of the time. -
The Mystery Solved (Falling action 3)
After a note from Kebsie says that she got bows in her hair, Tammy realizes they are from Mucle Man and punches him. When asked why he said he only wanted Tammy not to hurt any more. -
The Grounding (Falling action 4)
Tammy's parents find out about how Tammy punched Muscle Man and she is grounded from watching the moon landing. -
The Tree (resolution 1)
To remember Vinnie, Mucle Man and Mr. Pizzarelli plant a lemon tree, which Tammy thinks Muscle Man doesn't really care even though he does. Mucle Man also explains how his parents died in a car crash when he was little and planted a tree to remember them. -
Back to Normal (resolution 2)
The kids of Ramble Street go back to the old rules of equal teams, since the Mucle Man vs. everyone else rule didn't work out at all. Everyone agreed to this unanimously and things started to go back to normal. Tammy's family had a picnic, but since Tim and Tammy's dad kept arguing, no one had fun. All Tammy' could think about was the moon landing. -
Happy Ending (resolution 3)
Tammy could not sleep the night of the Moon Landing, and she wasn't allowed to see it. Muscle Man sneaks into Tammy's window because he felt sorry for her not seeing the landing, so he offers to take her to a place where she cn see it; a rusty old bar. Right as it was happening, Mr Pizzarelli caught them and wanted them to go home when the landing was over. At the end Tammy thinks Muscle Man isn't so bad after all.
