The novel begins with an epigraph by Emily Dickinson in the form of a poem about a volcano. Dickinson depicts the volcano as a secret-keeper, who won't confide "his projects pink" (22) to any "precarious man" (22). The poem ends by noting that "the only secret people keep is immortality" (22).

In the first section, Geryon begins kindergarten. He walks to school each day, trailing behind his older brother, who often picks up and throws stones he finds on the road. At first, the school's long "alien terrain" (24) between the "Main Door" (23) and "Kindergarten" (23) frightens Geryon. For the first month of school, Geryon's brother escorts him from the Main Door to Kindergarten, but eventually Geryon gets the feeling his brother doesn't want to anymore. Geryon asks his brother to take him "once more" (24), and his brother calls him "stupid" (24). After this, Geryon begins to go to school alone. He doesn't go through the Main Door, though, he creeps along "the long brick sidewall" (24) outside the building and waits "motionless" (24) in the bushes until someone lets him inside. He waits, even in snowfall, "touching a lucky penny inside his coat pocket" (25).