Charlie and his father shop for safety bars, dog medicine, and home-care supplies. Back at Bowditch’s house, Charlie surveys the rooms, notes roof leaks and a water-damaged library, and spends the day cleaning windows so the house will be bright and aired out before Bowditch returns.

Visiting his father, Charlie has a serious porch talk signaled by the reappearance of the pipe. Charlie frames his commitment as gratitude and “paying it forward,” while his father worries about costs, liability, and Charlie’s studies. His father shares background checks: Bowditch’s property dates to Adrian Bowditch (1920), taxes are paid, a 1957 Studebaker is registered, but there’s no Illinois driver’s license and almost no public record.

Charlie prepares sleeping arrangements at the house, finds an old bottle of Carprofen in a side-table drawer, and feeds Radar new meds. When the landline rings, Bowditch asks Charlie to visit the hospital the next day for a private talk, confirms Monday discharge, and presses Charlie about keeping secrets.

Bowditch offers $500 per week plus a year-end bonus, instructing Charlie to take $700 from a kitchen flour cannister for wages and expenses. Charlie agrees, with the caveat of no “bad crimes.” He opens the cannister and finds a stuffed stash—loose bills plus banded fifties and hundreds totaling at least $8,000—and three reddish pellets he believes are gold.

Walking home, Charlie decides to tell his father about the job and $700 but conceal the larger stash and the suspected gold until after their hospital talk. His father accepts the arrangement, deposits part of the money, and sets limits: help nights during vacation and keep up with school. Charlie feels the weight of new secrets and imagines a fantastical source for the gold, hinting at larger mysteries ahead.