In Cunningham's story "White Angel," is Bob a reliable or unreliable narrator?

In Michael Cunningham's short story "White Angel," Robert is a reliable narrator--in other words, a narrator who the reader can trust, and who has credibility.  Although Robert (AKA "Frisco") is nine years old at the time the story takes place, it is an older, mature Robert who narrates the story.  However, the reader discovers that even nine-year-old Robert is unusually trustworthy and credible for a boy his age. We learn this early in the story....

In Michael Cunningham's short story "White Angel," Robert is a reliable narrator--in other words, a narrator who the reader can trust, and who has credibility.  Although Robert (AKA "Frisco") is nine years old at the time the story takes place, it is an older, mature Robert who narrates the story.  However, the reader discovers that even nine-year-old Robert is unusually trustworthy and credible for a boy his age. We learn this early in the story.  For example, when Robert's older brother Carlton asks him if he is scared after the two of them drop acid, Robert answers him truthfully with a yes, then narrates: "I never even think of lying to him."   Later in the story, we find the narrator also stating the importance of truth.  After a fight the boys have with their mother, Robert says, "I hate her," then goes on to narrate: "I'm not certain about that.  I want to test the sound of it, to see if it's true."  Even at age nine, the narrator is very concerned with truth. Although the narrator is notably young at the time of the story, and experiments with drugs and alcohol (two qualities that might make for a very unreliable narrator), Michael Cunningham paints Robert as a very reliable narrator, and the reader therefore trusts his account of events.