David, now living with just his mother and Frick because Paige is in rehab, goes out with his friends Tyson and JP. The three play a game called “battle,” the nature of which provides clear evidence of Violence as an Expression of Masculinity. The boys hunt and beat each other with rocks and sticks until two have submitted and one is left the victor. During the game, JP beats Tyson with a stick, and Tyson attempts to throw a stick at JP, who ducks it. The stick hits David in the face, giving him a deep gash between his eye and his nose.

When David returns home, he’s careful to keep the wound from his mother. She insists he call his father, with whom he argues about child support and alimony payments. His father agrees to wire a $100 in David’s name, so David goes out to collect it. On the way, he meets up with Tyson, and the two pass a bar. Some white men outside the bar ask for cigarettes, and when the boys refuse to give them any the man calls them “Greedy fucking Indians” (155). The boys retaliate by throwing rocks at the man; the rocks break the bar’s windows.