Worried about Sandy’s wellbeing, King stands across the road from Sandy’s house for hours. Mikey Sanders sees him and confronts him. He tells King, “You stay away from here. […] You hear me?” (187).

After hanging out near the Sanders house for two nights without seeing any sign of Sandy, King summons the courage to knock on the door of the house. Sheriff Sanders answers the door and greets King with hostility. He threatens to have King arrested and sent to juvenile court for aiding a minor runaway if he does not leave immediately. The sheriff says Charles (Sandy) told him everything about the bayou hideout. King starts to say that Sandy told him the sheriff hits him, but he stops when the sheriff steps toward him in a threatening manner.

When King returns home, his father tells him he received a phone call from the sheriff. The sheriff told his parents that he helped Sandy hide. His mother asks King if it is true that he is gay. She says the sheriff told her “that Sandy is gay and that he got the idea to be gay from being around you—because of you” (193). King tells his mother that the sheriff is lying, but he realizes that his parents believe the sheriff.