Will thinks the mourning period should be over, because if Rucker can get married then he should be able to go fish. Will leaves with his dog T.R., who he named after Theodore Roosevelt after seeing him speak in Atlanta, to find a friend to go fishing with him. None of his friends are allowed to go so he just takes a walk. He passes by a sassafras tree; it used to be just one out of many in the grove. Cold Sassy got its name from those trees and all but one had been cut down to make room for the railroad. Many people wanted to change the town's name "to something less countrified." Then Will remembers that Loomis, the husband of the Tweedy's cook, Queenie, told him that the fish are biting near Blind Tillie Creek. To get there Will must walk past the...