In Chap­ter XVII, the group, hav­ing trav­eled towards the town of Emer­ald, encoun­ters Sam­son, one of the nar­ra­tor’s broth­ers, who appears qui­et­ly beside Fish while hold­ing an emp­ty bag of pota­to chips. Lill, sur­prised by Sam­son’s arrival, learns he is sev­en years old and not very talk­a­tive. Fish express­es their hunger, not­ing it’s well past sup­per. In response, Lill, a wait­ress at the Emer­ald Truck Stop Din­er, acknowl­edges her own tar­di­ness and express­es sym­pa­thy towards the group after hear­ing about their trou­bles. She offers to treat them to a meal, includ­ing banana cream pie, which sur­pris­es every­one, espe­cial­ly Sam­son, who rarely speaks. His husky voice, full of long­ing for banana cream pie, light­ens the mood and brings laugh­ter among the group.

Arriv­ing at the din­er, they find it illu­mi­nat­ed by neon lights and bustling with vehi­cles, indi­cat­ing a busy set­ting. Lester, the bus dri­ver, parks in a back alley clut­tered with garbage, apol­o­giz­ing for not let­ting them off clos­er to the restau­rant. Lill guides the chil­dren through the neglect­ed alley, and they find Sam­son walk­ing con­fi­dent­ly between Lill and Lester, although he is still anx­ious.

As they near the park­ing lot, the nar­ra­tor spots a hand emerg­ing from a pile of soiled clothes behind a dump­ster, trig­ger­ing alarm and con­cern. Despite Will’s appre­hen­sion that the man might just be drunk, the nar­ra­tor insists on check­ing the man’s con­di­tion, recall­ing the state of their own father, Pop­pa. Ignor­ing Will’s urg­ing to move on, the nar­ra­tor kneels beside the home­less man and reach­es out to feel for a pulse, con­cen­trat­ing on wak­ing him up.

How­ev­er, instead of hope, the nar­ra­tor hears a voice of despair echo­ing in her mind, reveal­ing the man’s deep-seat­ed pain and regret. This real­iza­tion shat­ters her belief in her abil­i­ty to help, bring­ing a pro­found sense of use­less­ness and sor­row. The encounter leads her to despair over her savvi­ness, wrestling with the wish that she could be like her father, free from the bur­dens of abil­i­ty, hope, and sub­se­quent heartache.