Chap­ter 164 of All the Col­ors of the Dark opens with a somber scene at a ceme­tery in Cedar Val­ley, where a bur­ial is tak­ing place beside St. Raphael. Patch, attend­ing the ser­vice, observes the misty hills and drea­ry skies, the weath­er con­trast­ing with the per­sis­tent smoke ris­ing from the John Deere fac­to­ry in Pecaut. His daugh­ter, Char­lotte, dressed in a navy dress, main­tains a com­posed demeanor, stark­ly dif­fer­ent from the mourn­ers around her who grieve the loss of Misty. Patch reflects on the activ­i­ties he once shared with Char­lotte and con­tem­plates moments like fish­ing at Clear Spring Lake as they both try to nav­i­gate their grief. The scene reveals the con­trasts in how dif­fer­ent peo­ple cope with loss and the weight of respon­si­bil­i­ty Patch feels in guid­ing Char­lotte through such a dif­fi­cult time. The harsh real­i­ties of life and death are fur­ther inten­si­fied by the set­ting, where nature and indus­try seem at odds with each oth­er, mir­ror­ing the inter­nal con­flict Patch faces.

As Patch stands among the mourn­ers, he is keen­ly aware of Charlotte’s curi­ous nature, which evokes mem­o­ries of his own tumul­tuous past. The ser­vice reach­es its emo­tion­al peak when Misty’s moth­er cries out as the pol­ished cas­ket is low­ered into the ground, a raw dis­play of grief that affects every­one in atten­dance. In con­trast, Char­lotte, with her inno­cence, offers a sim­ple yet poignant sen­ti­ment: “You don’t cry because it’s over, you smile that it hap­pened.” Patch, how­ev­er, strug­gles to find com­fort in her words, as the depth of his own sor­row clouds his abil­i­ty to grasp the hope­ful mes­sage she offers. The pro­found sad­ness of the day lingers, as the grief expe­ri­enced by those around him reminds Patch of the frag­ile nature of life, and the dif­fi­cul­ty in find­ing peace even when sur­round­ed by loved ones who attempt to offer solace. The emo­tion­al dis­con­nect between Charlotte’s hope­ful per­spec­tive and Patch’s inter­nal anguish fur­ther high­lights the strug­gle for clo­sure that he faces.

After the ser­vice, Patch approach­es Chief Nix, who has recent­ly suf­fered a stroke and is cop­ing with his own loss. Their con­ver­sa­tion unveils a shared his­to­ry between the two men, one built on mutu­al under­stand­ing of the tri­als that life has thrown at them. Nix express­es con­cern for Patch’s well-being and acknowl­edges his ongo­ing search for answers about his past, an inves­ti­ga­tion that has left Patch rest­less and con­flict­ed. The two men reflect on life-chang­ing events, con­sid­er­ing how they shape a person’s sense of self and how dif­fi­cult it is to move for­ward when one is anchored to the past. Patch recalls the day of Misty’s tragedy, the moment that marked a dra­mat­ic shift in his life, for­ev­er alter­ing his per­cep­tion of the world and his place with­in it. This reflec­tion serves as a reminder of the pro­found impact such moments can have, and the inter­nal strug­gle that fol­lows when seek­ing mean­ing in the after­math of trau­ma.

The con­ver­sa­tion between Patch and Nix evolves into a philo­soph­i­cal dis­course on humanity’s dual­i­ty, exam­in­ing the pres­ence of both good and evil with­in indi­vid­u­als. Nix offers insights into the com­plex­i­ties of life, sug­gest­ing that sim­plic­i­ty and beau­ty can still be found amidst chaos and tur­moil. Their talk touch­es on places like Cody, Wyoming, rep­re­sent­ing a long­ing for peace and clar­i­ty, a stark con­trast to the con­fu­sion and suf­fer­ing that dom­i­nate their cur­rent lives. Nix encour­ages Patch to take the time he needs with Char­lotte, advis­ing him to pause his search for answers and focus on the present moment. In doing so, he offers sup­port and under­stand­ing, rein­forc­ing the idea that heal­ing requires patience and the accep­tance of love and con­nec­tion as part of the jour­ney. Their exchange high­lights the sig­nif­i­cance of rela­tion­ships in nav­i­gat­ing grief and the impor­tance of tak­ing time for the peo­ple who mat­ter most.

In the midst of over­whelm­ing grief and reflec­tion, Patch finds solace in his bond with Char­lotte and the sup­port of those around him. The chap­ter under­scores the theme of heal­ing, sug­gest­ing that while the past shapes the indi­vid­u­als involved, it is pos­si­ble to move toward a future where hope and con­nec­tion can still thrive. As Patch and Nix con­tin­ue their dia­logue, the emo­tion­al weight of the past is acknowl­edged, but there is a qui­et recog­ni­tion that the road ahead, though chal­leng­ing, holds the poten­tial for growth and under­stand­ing. The chap­ter clos­es with a sense of qui­et res­o­lu­tion, as the char­ac­ters come to terms with their loss­es, each find­ing their own way to heal while acknowl­edg­ing the com­plex­i­ty of their emo­tion­al jour­neys. Through this con­nec­tion, the chap­ter paints a pic­ture of both despair and hope, show­ing how the pas­sage of time can offer a path to peace even in the dark­est of moments.