The characters in Philbrick's Freak the Mighty are not luxurious millionaires in the least. Max's grandparents are lower-middle-class citizens who have probably lived in their home for a very long time. As neighborhoods age, they tend to show some wear and tear. The house must be small, too, because Grim made a makeshift bedroom for Max in the basement out of "cheap paneling" and it tends to stink. When Max grows bored with his room, he can go outside to the back yard. Max describes it as follows:
"So finally I get bored in the down under and I'm hanging out in the so-called back yard, your basic chunk of chain-link heaven" (6).
From the tone of this sentence, one can infer that Max isn't impressed with his yard. First, he demonstrates his disappointment by saying the yard is "so-called" because it isn't pretty or anything special to look at. Next, he uses the word "chunk" which suggests that there isn't a lot of space for him there. Finally, he mentions that the yard is framed by a chain-link fence, but in order to throw in a sarcastic twist of verbal irony at the end, he says "heaven." Therefore, the yard is small, probably old, and framed by a chain-link fence. It's not much, but it's all he has.
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