The story is written in basically of two episodes of oral presentation.

Billy who is at start nervous but

he turns strong because the presentation is in language he is comfortable with. When it comes to Bobby
he is very nervous about his first “Show and Tell” to the class since he is not comfortable in English. He is
further nervous of bullying for his language from Billy. As Bobby begins his first show and tell, he is
nervous about. When Bobby pins his family tree on the board his bullying starts by Billy. This makes
him more nervous and he starts speaking very quickly and he wants to finish it as soon as possible
and he soon reaches the conclusion part. So not being comfortable in English mad him nervous and he
could not deliver the content in a good and elaborative manner. The second show and tell is much
different. Bobby is no longer the nervous wreck that he was in the first. In between is the
transforming event, when Bobby protects Cao and stands up to Billy and Becky at lunch. When Billy
interrogates Cao in the lunch line, Bobby is struck by the cruelty of the questions. Even though Cao
doesn't understand what Billy says, Bobby knows that he understands, narrating, "You could tell he
pretty much figured it out that Billy's an asshole 'cause you don't need no english for that." After
verbal conflagration involving Billy and his female counterpart Becky, Billy threatens trouble when
they get outside. Bobby does not seem to be worried this time, having bested them both at their own
game. Bobby says that he stands up to Billy and Becky because he didn't want Cao to know that he
was afraid of them, but it is clear that he confronts them to protect Cao and keep him from becoming
one of Bobby's kind, attending school in fear of Billy.

In the second show and tell episode, Bobby is the translator for Cao Long Nguyen's illustrations, and
he speaks slowly and confidently, without Billy's shadow cast over him. He has a understanding
that transcends language, and is able to translate Kal's drawings without the usual signs of
nervousness.

Bobby plays the role of Phoenix from the X-Men comics: he has a psychic-like ability to understand
what Cao draws on the board. Without any words, he turns Cao's drawings into words, sensing
the meaning behind each of the drawings. Bobby knows how Cao feels without using words, as their
station in life is similar, Cao fleeing from Vietnam, Bobby fleeing from Bobby daily. It is this parallel
that allows Bobby to translate with such detail.