Living with Coach makes summers feel easier, but Demon resists being treated like a child. He wants money and a car, so despite Coach’s offer to provide, he pushes for work and lands a legal fifteen-year-old job at the Pennington Farm Supply through Coach Briggs’s brother. He handles feed, seasonal plants, and chicks, trained by cashier Donnamarie, and enjoys customers recognizing him for football.

While loading an order, Demon recognizes Fast Forward by voice and hair. They trade updates: Creaky’s farm has collapsed, and Fast now runs about fifty acres near Cedar Hill with a manageable tobacco allotment. Fast says he has seen Demon play, which thrills Demon and cements Fast’s pull on him.

Fast later invites Demon to Saturday cruising in Pennington. Demon asserts a little independence by telling U-Haul not to pick him up. In Fast’s Lariat with Big Bear Howe and Rose Dartell, they circle town as a moving spectacle: Big Bear rides the hood, joints pass, and Fast stops to introduce Demon to older ex-Generals, calling him a prodigy. The attention excites Demon while raising expectations he fears he can’t meet.

Rose and Fast bicker like siblings; Rose, who bears a visible lip scar, fetches cigarettes and rides along as an unsettled companion. As the sun sets and the town glows, Demon feels he’s finally living the scene he imagined—dragging Main, basking in status, weed, and Fast’s orbit—while still fifteen and dependent on others for rides.