At nine o’clock, Sammy leaves in a waiting car and rides out past Monta Clare to an old farmhouse he has never visited before. As he arrives, he takes in the landscape and begins to understand why the place held such meaning.

Behind the house, Sammy finds Marty Tooms pulling bindweed from the ground. Marty assumes Sammy has come from the bank and explains that Ernie Fulbright allowed him to tidy the property before its upcoming auction. Sammy answers by mentioning that the old police chief used to care for the place each month, which briefly unsettles Marty and leads him to speak about how some places preserve good memories more easily than others.

Sammy then reveals that he is not from the bank. The narration fills in Marty’s recent life: after his quiet release, he has lived modestly, worked at a timber yard, volunteered in a state park, and refused compensation because he believed he had done much wrong. It also recalls that Callie Montrose’s body was found buried beneath the okame cherry on Nix’s land, a discovery that frames Sammy’s reflection that redemption is complicated and often self-priced.

Walking toward the house, Sammy gives Marty a thick envelope. When Marty opens it, Sammy explains that the land, house, and surrounding acres are his again. Sammy says someone left Marty a painting worth enough money for Sammy to loan against it and buy back the property from Fulbright before the auction.

Marty is confused by the mention of the painting, but Sammy adds that he spent years looking at it and wants it to remain hanging in the house beside the others because it reminds him of a friend. Sammy presents the restored property as both a practical gift and a gesture of remembrance, offering Marty a chance to reclaim the place and its memories.