After Sony punches Hai beside the tracks, Sony finally admits that he has long known the letters from his father were fake. He explains that he looked up the details of his father’s death years ago and now believes he must go to Vermont to recover the diamond supposedly fused into his father’s hand, a quest he mixes with Civil War fantasies, pop culture logic, and magical thinking. Hai first tries to reason with Sony, then gives an emotional speech about how fear and brokenness are the true human norm, pleading with Sony to stay. When Sony still insists on going, Hai gives in and agrees to take him to Vermont.

Because Grazina cannot be left alone and because leaving town also buys time from any possible social-services intervention, Hai decides she must come too. At HomeMarket, Wayne refuses to lend his car or drive them, but BJ devises a workaround: she will use the store’s catering van under the pretense of a pickup in Thetford, Vermont. Maureen joins the trip to keep things under control, and Hai rushes home to prepare Grazina, pack her medication, food, and clothes, and bring her along despite her confusion and intermittent lucidity.

On the road, the van takes on the feel of a strange family outing. Grazina snaps when the others discuss her as if she were absent, showing flashes of clarity. BJ then reveals she wants to make a stop in Springfield, Massachusetts, to leave a wrestling demo tape with a contact, and the group agrees. The detour costs them time, and by evening they are too late to continue the search effectively.

Unable to find motel rooms because a local asparagus festival has filled the town, the group buys snacks and keeps driving until Hai spots an isolated barn. They follow Grazina inside and decide to spend the night there among hay and curing garlic. Later, while retrieving Grazina’s pills from the van, Hai quietly relapses by chewing Dilaudid. In the dark, he and Sony share a gentler conversation about Sony’s dream of flying over East Gladness, the comfort and pain of the fake letters, and a childhood memory of trying to paddle to Canada with Sony’s father drifting beside them.

Back in the barn, Hai settles Grazina to sleep, trades a pill and strange late-night talk with Maureen, and finally dozes off. He then wakes to what seems either a dream, hallucination, or mystical vision: a green-lit phantom ship passes above the fields, followed by a huge whistling hog singing "Silent Night." Confronting the animal, Hai confesses his exhaustion and inability to keep living as he has been. The vision dissolves into morning, and Sony, who has been watching over him, gently blows on Hai’s cheek and writes "okay" on it, ending the chapter with a small act of care that pulls Hai back into the world.