Ghost: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

At first, Ghost feels like his half-day suspension is going pretty great. He is having a fun time with Coach Brody, as he gets the hang of track. Before the real running starts, Ghost and Coach Brody debate the best basketball player of all time. Ghost believes it is Lebron James, while Coach Brody thinks it is Michael Jordan. Ghost tells Coach Brody that Michael Jordan is just an old man who cannot stack up to Lebron James’s two championship rings. However, he is quickly humbled when Coach Brody tells him that Jordan has six championships. Ghost wonders if that is the Guinness world record.

Their conversation transitions to a discussion of Usain Bolt, who ran a 100-meter sprint in nine seconds and 58 milliseconds. When Coach Brody tells Ghost Bolt’s time, Ghost doesn’t think it sounds all that fast and says he thinks he could beat it. His words bring a wry smile to Coach Brody’s face, and he tells Ghost to get on the starting line. Then, he makes Ghost run the 100-meter sprint over and over. Ghost never makes it anywhere close to Bolt’s time. Eventually, Ghost asks for a break because he is tired. In response, Coach Brody laughs and tells him that if he thinks he is tired, just think of how his mother and principal feel. At this point, Ghost realizes he is being punished for his behavior at school.

Coach Brody finally lets Ghost stop running when he sees his form has completely deteriorated. As Ghost walks around the track to cool down, he sees the rest of Defenders walking over to the track for the start of practice. Still exhausted, Ghost walks to his new teammates. Coach Brody gives everyone a brief pep talk and introduces everyone by name, including his assistant coach, a woman with braids named Coach Whit. Then he divides everyone up into groups depending on which event they run. Sunny gets placed in the long runner category, Patina—who goes by Patty—in the medium-distance category, and Ghost and Lu in the short-distance, sprint category.

Already exhausted, Ghost spends the next several minutes running ladders, a series of sprints that start short, get longer, and then get shorter again. Because he is already exhausted, he comes in last every time. Finally, a five minute break comes, so Ghost can catch his breath. Unfortunately, he did not realize that he had to bring his own water, so he has nothing to hydrate with. One of the veteran runners, Aaron, sees that Ghost does not have water, so he offers him some, which Ghost happily accepts.

During the break, Lu tries to pick a fight with Ghost. He does not understand why Ghost is trying to fit in where he clearly does not belong and comments on his clothes. In response, Ghost says Lu is still mad because Ghost proved Lu wasn’t that fast and tells him to stop acting like he is Usain Bolt. Although the veterans largely stay out of the fight, they do warn Ghost and Lu to take it out on the track when they see them start to get heated. Before anyone can get too mad, Coach Brody blows his whistle, and the team goes back to running ladders.

As Ghost lines up on the track, he is still angry about Lu’s trash talking. He hates that Lu thinks he is perfect, especially when he isn’t. In his head, Ghost insults Lu’s albinism—though he does not know the name for the condition—which he thinks looks especially strange because Lu is African American. Despite his rage, Ghost has a hard time coming close to Lu in most of the sprints. Still, Ghost does not give up, especially when he sees Lu looking exhausted.

On the second to last sprint of the day, Ghost feels himself closing in on Lu and thinks he might be able to beat him. However, just as he starts to kick it into high gear, his shoe comes untied, and he trips and falls hard. In the process of the fall, his shoes go flying off, and he badly skins his knees, eliciting an audible “Ohhhhhhhhh!” from his teammates. Coach Brody runs over to ensure Ghost is okay and then walks him over to the bench. He tells Ghost he can sit out the last sprint and then returns to the rest of the team. Ghost sits alone, feeling humiliated.

After practice, Patty walks up to Ghost and tells him not to worry about his fall. According to her, it happens fairly often. Ghost explains that he feels extra embarrassed because he was trying to teach Lu a lesson. Patty responds that he should ignore Lu; Lu just has a bad attitude because everyone picks on his albinism. Ghost has never heard of an albino person before, so Patty has to tell him what is means. 

Once everyone else has left, Ghost gets in Coach Brody’s cab. On the drive home, Ghost is silent because he is still embarrassed about wiping out at practice. Coach Brody tries to make Ghost feel better by telling him a story about how he wiped out in front of his teammates as a younger man. However, Ghost only half-listens to his story. When Ghost arrives home, he takes a pair of scissors to his shoes in an attempt to make them more suitable for running track.