Cocoa and George continue to date, but their relationship is tumultuous: they seem to alternate between getting along very well and fighting. For example, when George decides to tell Cocoa about Shawn, his ex-wife, Cocoa pretends not to be bothered, but her inner thoughts relay self-consciousness. On the other hand, the two share a passionate experience over Shakespeare’s King Lear soon after.

The action then shifts to Miranda, who is preparing for Candle Walk, a local Willow Springs holiday celebrated on the night of December 22nd. The narrator calls Candle Walk “a way of getting help without feeling obliged” (186), and involves the exchange of homemade gifts between neighbors. On their walk, Miranda and Abigail encounter Ambush and Bernice Duvall, who gift Miranda with a rocking chair that Ambush made. Later, Miranda decides to continue her Candle Walk to the other place. She asks Abigail if she would like to come with her, but Abigail declines, saying that “It’s too much, sister” (197). The next several pages describe Miranda’s quiet walk through the woods to the other place. She knows the way well—Naylor writes that “Miranda could walk those west woods stone blind” (198)—but she struggles to make the walk, concluding “she wasn’t meant to get to the other place tonight” (198).