The Peggots track Demon down in Jonesville and call Coach Winfield’s house. Demon expects to be angry, but Mrs. Peggot’s concern makes him emotional, and he agrees to visit after Saturday football practice.

Coach has U-Haul drive Demon to the Peggots, and U-Haul waits outside like a powerless chaperone. Over dinner, the Peggots react to how much Demon has changed, while Demon is startled by Maggot’s new goth look and piercings. They ask about Demon living with Coach and about Betsy Woodall suddenly taking interest in him.

Mrs. Peggot reveals Betsy always knew Demon existed and once came up the holler before Demon was born, accompanied by a “sassy” young driver and a very small grown man. The Peggots explain that Demon’s dead father had written Betsy a partially apologetic letter saying he was going to be a father and inviting her to see the baby, but then he died, and Betsy’s visit enraged Demon’s mother. Demon realizes his mother hid the Woodall name and fought to keep Demon from learning anything that might let Betsy take him.

Demon and Maggot talk alone, tense at first because of Demon’s old resentment, then slipping into familiar joking. Maggot says his mother was denied parole after clashing with a guard, reinforcing the sense that prison and bad luck still define that side of the family.

The Peggots take Demon and Maggot to visit Aunt June and Emmy in June’s unusual dome-shaped house, partly because it is Demon’s birthday. Upstairs, Emmy confides she despises June’s boyfriend Kent, and she explains he is a pharmaceutical salesman who showers medical staff with gifts to get them to prescribe his pills. Downstairs, Demon watches Kent push a sales pitch about pain scores and miracle, long-lasting pain medication until Mr. Peg accepts a coupon; once in the truck, Mrs. Peggot threatens to flush the pills if they enter her home.