Mississippi Trial, 1955

Hiram has an intense, emotional dream of he and his father. They were silently fishing together and “Dad looked content and happy, not just with life but with me” (108). But he walks away in the dream and when he returns, his father is gone, and Hiram is filled with complete and utter sadness. Once he is up and awake, he continues to worry about Emmett’s safety and tries to speak to Ruthanne about it, but she brushes it off as him being nonsensical in his actions towards the white woman up in Money and does not seem concerned that his safety is at risk.

That night at dinner, Hiram and Grampa go to a restaurant in town, where many come by their table to briefly chat and remark on everything Grampa and his council is doing to “save the South” (110). After dinner, they are home reading and listening to the radio when someone comes to the door looking to speak to Grampa, and he tells Hiram to go up to his room while they discuss council business. Hiram recalls that Grampa must have returned quite late, because he did not even here him come back inside the house.