In the chap­ter, the pro­tag­o­nist finds solace in the park, sleep­ing in var­i­ous spots such as the buf­fa­lo shed, bench­es, or the pavil­ion, as the warm nights of June approach. He sus­tains him­self by scav­eng­ing for food—apples, car­rots, and day-old ham­burg­er buns found in the deer and buf­fa­lo pens, as well as free sam­ples from the new­ly opened Acme bak­ery. His hunger seems to ampli­fy the reach of Mrs. Pick­well’s din­ner whis­tle, draw­ing him to her meals from var­i­ous loca­tions in town.

Amidst his tran­sient lifestyle, he fre­quents the library and par­tic­i­pates in pick-up games of base­ball and bas­ket­ball. With the school year end­ing, the park becomes busier with chil­dren. Morn­ings hold a spe­cial sig­nif­i­cance for him; he ris­es before the sun to embrace a tran­quil hour he cher­ish­es, explor­ing the town with an inti­mate famil­iar­i­ty. Every street, alley, or back­yard holds sig­nif­i­cance, reflect­ing the lives of the towns­peo­ple he observes, even with­out know­ing them by name.

He becomes acquaint­ed with the town through its landscapes—neighborhoods with dis­tinct back­yards full of flow­ers, weeds, and unique items, char­ac­ter­ized by their indi­vid­u­al­i­ty, much like faces. Inter­est­ing­ly, the divi­sions of East End and West End, as well as the dis­tinc­tions between black and white, dis­solve in the ear­ly hours. In these moments, he feels a sense of belong­ing, view­ing Two Mills as his town, just as much as any of its res­i­dents.

Despite know­ing he could find com­fort sleep­ing in homes like the Beales’ or the McN­abs’, he indulges in the enchant­ment of morn­ings, believ­ing that any house in Two Mills would wel­come him. This feel­ing dri­ves him to explore, lead­ing him to a back­yard on Hamil­ton Street one night, where, after observ­ing the growth of a leaf let­tuce, he finds a white wick­er loveseat on the back porch and rests. There­after, he con­tin­ues his rou­tine, sleep­ing in dif­fer­ent back­yards or porch­es each night, occa­sion­al­ly even find­ing unlocked doors that allow him to sleep inside homes.