The nightly chats with Papaw concern Cash, for he knows that his grandfather’s health is worsening and struggles to pay attention even in the poetry class he loves. Dr. Atkins asks Cash to stay after class one day and shares with him her own background in Appalachia. She assures him that storytelling is in their blood and suggests that he use poetry to help him through moments of doubt and sadness, saying, “Life won’t freely give you moments of joy” (196). She assigns him to read one poem a night from the books she lends him, with the challenge to then write an original poem of his own. That night, Cash reads a poem and then tries to write one. In the couplet he writes, he admits only that “words are stuck” (198) in his mind.

When Cash sees Delaney in the cafeteria, he chides her for being too busy for their friendship. Delaney takes exception to his attitude and tells him to “fuck off” (201) before she stalks away.

The next day, Dr. Atkins upbraids Cash for his poem, saying that pretending that words are hard to get to is a cop-out. Although she understands his emotional chaos, she tells him, “You have a truth.