There's a car outside, John. I think it's a taxi!
Hi there, Johnny-boy
John!
In this scene, John rushes upstairs to find Norton stealing Mr. Pignati's oscilloscope. This is important because it is when John first realizes that trouble has begun. John is sticking up for himself and Mr. Pignati when he says, "Leave it alone" (Zindel 163).
John! Someone's coming up the front steps!
Lorraine yells for John from downstairs. He turns around, but Norton punches John and runs downstairs. This action shows that a fight will start break out between the two. It also shows a theme of friendship and maturity because John defending Mr. Pignati and his belongings like a true friend.
In all this tension of John and Norton fighting, Lorraine is screaming that someone (Mr. Pignati) is coming home! He will see the big mess that they made, and be very upset. John rushes down the stairs to chase Norton.
The Pigman's here!
Lorraine keeps telling John that Mr. Pignati is coming, but he is too caught up in the moment to understand what she is saying. He hears crashing noises in the Pig room, where all of Conchetta's (Mr. Pignati's dead wife) porcelain pigs are kept.
An artistic element described in the book is the smile on Mr. Pignati's face that John remembers. When Mr. Pignati was first showing John and Lorraine the pig room, he was very happy. That is the only thing John can remember when fighting Norton in the pig room. It helps reveal the theme of friendship, and the major event of Norton breaking the pigs. They fight, then Norton escapes for the door.
John pounces on Norton when he realizes what Lorraine has been saying to him the entire time. John slowly looks up to see Angelo Pignati, the owner of the house, staring down at him, with no smile on his face. The description of John slowly seeing Mr. Pignati emphasizes the importance of this scene because it is the one of the very few times that Mr. Pignati isn't smiling at all.