Super Good Day

Super Good Day is the highest category in Christopher’s system for reading the day through the colors and sequences of cars. Its importance lies less in forecasting a particular event than in giving Christopher a structured way to anticipate one: five red cars mean that something special is going to happen, even when the day has not yet supplied an explanation.

The Car-Count System

Christopher explains the system to Mr. Jeavons, the psychologist at school. Four red cars in a row make a Good Day, three make a Quite Good Day, and five make a Super Good Day; four yellow cars in a row make a Black Day. A Black Day has practical consequences: Christopher does not speak to anyone, sits alone reading, does not eat lunch, and takes no risks.

The system is not a claim that car colors are logically connected to what will happen. Christopher says that he likes things to be in a nice order, and that logic is one kind of order, especially for numbers and arguments. Other people may let sunshine or rain shape their mood even when the weather has no bearing on their work; the car-count categories provide Christopher with another way of arranging a day. He compares this preference for order with Father’s routines: Father puts his trousers on before his socks and always takes the stairs two at a time, beginning with his right foot.

From Prediction to Expectation

On the way home from school, Christopher sees five red cars in a row. The Super Good Day makes him certain that something special is going to happen. Nothing special happens at school, so he concludes that the event must come after school. He goes to the shop at the end of the road and spends his pocket money on licorice laces and a Milky Bar.

There he sees Mrs. Alexander, the older woman from number 39. She is wearing a dress rather than jeans and smells of cooking. Her appearance does not, by itself, explain what the prediction meant, but the category has changed how Christopher reads the encounter: he considers that talking with her might be the special event he has been expecting.

A Pattern That Opens a Conversation

Mrs. Alexander asks what happened to Christopher the other day. After she unties Ivor’s lead from the drainpipe, Christopher initially says nothing because he does not want to get into trouble. He then reasons that the day is a Super Good Day and that something special has not yet happened. It is therefore possible, he thinks, that speaking with Mrs. Alexander is the anticipated event.

The system also shapes how Christopher approaches the conversation. He hopes she may tell him something about Wellington or Mr. Shears without his having to ask, which would let him avoid breaking his promise. He instead tells her that he likes mathematics, looking after Toby, outer space, and being on his own; she responds that he must be very good at mathematics. Super Good Day thus connects a numerical pattern to a concrete social opening, while leaving the prediction broad enough for Christopher to recognize its fulfillment in an unexpected encounter.