Paps comes home drunk and grabs Ma, who is getting ready for work. She tells him to stop, but he guides her toward the stairs. When she still resists, he lifts her up and drags her as she hangs on to the banister:

Her eyes searched, wild and desperate, for something to grab, and for an instant she looked at us with that same pleading look […] All of this passed in a moment, and only a moment, before Paps kicked the door closed (66-67).

The boys see their mother struggling, and cannot do anything about it. After a moment she seems to accept what’s going to happen, though the passing silent plea for help sticks with the narrator.

The brothers stay downstairs, afraid to even go near the bedroom, and watch television until they are asleep in front of the set. Ma leaves for work while they’re sleeping and then comes back. When she returns, she wakes her sons, telling them to get up and get in the truck.

She drives to a park along the river. There are upturned canoes in the river, and a playground with mostly broken swings. The narrator notices that Ma has put some of their clothes, along with documents and pictures, in clear plastic trash bags that sit in the truck bed.