Desperate for someone to turn to, Eddie considers the people he has trusted in his life. He could go to a priest or to a high school art teacher he had liked, but then he envisions the darkness of the confessional and remembers that he heard the educator moved to Oregon. He has already tried his godmother. He considers Raul Hernandez, a good cop who runs an anti-gang program that involves getting jobs for “the homies.” Ironically, Eddie is not “bad enough” to get one of those jobs; one has to be a “real gangster” to be eligible for the opportunity.

Eddie finally decides to visit Coach at Holmes Playground. He goes early on a Saturday morning. While Coach is busy getting the neighborhood kids situated, Eddie sits on a picnic table feeling bad because of the animal donation money he pilfered and used to buy himself groceries and basic household supplies. When Coach finally approaches him with two cold sodas in hand, Eddie tells him what is happening in his life. He talks about everything from his father’s death to Jose’s recent stabbing, and he ends with the plea, “I don’t want to live here no more.” Coach listens sympathetically, then he asks if Eddie has ever thought about joining the service. Eddie never really considered this option. Coach suggests that the army might be good for him.

Eddie then tells Coach, “Angel is messing up.” He also asks what he should do about Mr. Stiles, who still thinks he stole his truck. Coach says he will talk to the old man and dials him up on the rotary telephone. While Coach is vouching for Eddie’s character and explaining what happened with the truck, Eddie goes outside, where he is once again accosted by Samuel, who shows him a blade. Samuel struts around and growls threateningly, “Me and Angel are going to get you, man.” Coach is watching from inside the building, and when he makes a motion to put down the telephone and come outside, the little hoodlum flees.

Coach finishes his call and tells Eddie that Mr. Stiles wants to hire him back. He then tells Eddie to choose a branch of the military. Eddie randomly picks the navy, and Coach calls the recruiting office and sets up an appointment for an interview. Dutifully, Eddie goes downtown to meet with the recruiter, but ultimately, he is not sure he wants to join the navy. Eddie manages to escape out the door without signing up. He navigates his way back to his apartment through a landscape of hunger—a minefield of “winos, the homeless, and [cadaverous] stray dogs.”

Eddie’s Mom has not sent him the money he requested, and he cannot even call to remind her because his phone is dead. On Sunday, he returns to Mr. Stiles’s place. As he walks the mile from the bus stop to his destination, a carload of people on their way to church glare at him suspiciously. Eddie greets Mr. Stiles and apologizes for losing his truck. Although the old man seems nervous and on edge, his attitude is conciliatory. When Mr. Stiles asks Eddie to dig a hole in the backyard for an orange tree, Eddie works with exceptional diligence; he wants to please the man who has redeemed him with his trust. Suddenly, out of nowhere, cops appear and knock Eddie face down in the dirt. They handcuff him and read him his rights. When Eddie asks, “What did I do?” they inform him that he is wanted for the “brutal beating of an old man in a Laundromat.” Eddie protests that he is innocent, but the policemen will not listen. As he is taken away in the cruiser, Eddie looks out the window and sees the little blue-eyed boy on the tricycle racing along on the sidewalk, trying to keep up.