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Oskar's fear of having to take on three boys at once, even with his rod, overcomes his desire to impress his new neighbour. Dropping his rod to avoid being slowed down, he skates at top speed towards his other classmates, with Conny and his two sidekicks in hot pursuit. "Help me!" he pleads. "They're going to push me into the hole in the ice!"
But his other classmates, fearful of becoming the bullies' next victims, grab Oskar, and one of them yells, "We got 'im for ya, Conny!"
"Thanks, pal! We'll take over from here," says Conny, and he and his two friends drag Oskar towards the hole, followed by the rest of the class. Everyone laughs and cheers when they push him in, and they continue to mock him as he pulls himself out of the icy water and leaves the skating party in tears.
When Oskar returns home, he discovers that the windows of his neighbour's apartment are no longer covered over. Apparently she and her father have moved away. He accepts this fact with more relief than sorrow, for he has no desire to endure any further humiliation for his failure to "find some guts", as she put it. Soon thereafter, he notices that the talk about murders has ceased. This too is a source of relief: he no longer has any reason to fear being murdered.
Oskar continues to be bullied for the next four years until the last of the bullies flunks out of school. From then on, his problem is no longer being bullied but being rejected, in particular by girls.