In Chap­ter IX, the char­ac­ters find them­selves on a bus jour­ney deep­er into Nebras­ka, cre­at­ing a tense atmos­phere among them. Fish and the nar­ra­tor are anx­ious, exchang­ing glances that com­mu­ni­cate appre­hen­sion. Bob­bi, how­ev­er, appears unfazed, loung­ing on a cot and indulging in Bub­ble Tape and a Nation­al Geo­graph­ic mag­a­zine. The mag­a­zine’s cov­er, depict­ing a human heart, prompts the nar­ra­tor to reflect on the fragili­ty of life, mir­ror­ing Bob­bi’s strong yet soft demeanor.

As the bus rolls onward, Fish occu­pies a spot far from Bob­bi, embody­ing the pro­tec­tive role of an old­er broth­er while grap­pling with inner tur­moil. He seems haunt­ed by mem­o­ries of past expe­ri­ences, par­tic­u­lar­ly a hur­ri­cane, feel­ing immense respon­si­bil­i­ty.

The nar­ra­tor, seat­ed on the floor next to Will Junior, tries to remain opti­mistic, believ­ing that the bus will soon return to Sali­na, Kansas, where their father is hos­pi­tal­ized. Despite the live­ly sur­round­ings, an angel­ic voice whis­pers anx­ious­ly into the nar­ra­tor’s thoughts, echo­ing their wor­ries. This voice trig­gers fur­ther ten­sion, as they recall a pre­vi­ous encounter with a trou­bled man, sug­gest­ing that stress may be affect­ing their men­tal state.

Out­side, the land­scape slips by in monot­o­nous stretch­es of coun­try­side, devoid of life but marked by occa­sion­al struc­tures like silos and water tow­ers. The mood with­in the bus shifts when Bob­bi, bored and mis­chie­vous, kicks Fish off the cot. In retal­i­a­tion, Fish unleash­es his fury, send­ing mag­a­zines flying—a chaot­ic dis­play of emo­tions. The nar­ra­tor inter­venes, try­ing to calm Fish, and just as the sit­u­a­tion reach­es a boil­ing point, Sam­son, a calm pres­ence, dif­fus­es the ten­sion with a gen­tle touch.

The bus grows eeri­ly silent as it sud­den­ly comes to a stop. The deliv­ery­man, pre­vi­ous­ly appear­ing lost and dis­tract­ed, now con­fronts the kids with a stern demeanor. The chap­ter ends on an unset­tling note, as both the chil­dren and the deliv­ery­man sense that trou­ble is brew­ing, leav­ing the read­er antic­i­pat­ing what comes next.