Brand begins his narration by telling the boys that Maggie asked him to keep secret the time they spent together. He relates that she picked him up after school near his house and took him to the grocery store for 10 weeks in a row. They would spend an hour casually shopping for groceries before she dropped him off at his home. Brand explains, “I should have told you guys earlier, but she said it was better if it stayed between us. Something about the school and legal issues with driving me and everything” (243).

When they ask Brand if that was his big secret, he thinks that there is more to it, that in actuality Maggie had saved him from desperate thoughts about running away and leaving his father. He remembers that she saw him carrying groceries in the snow and pulled up alongside him asking if he wanted a ride.

When the boys enter Saint Mary’s Hospital, they realize that security may try to prevent them from going to Maggie’s room. A guard asks them why they are there, and Topher says they are visiting their grandmother. The boys get in an elevator to ride up to Maggie’s floor.