Summary

The fourth chapter is narrated from the perspective of Ted, the driver of the truck that Claude and Maxwell’s car crashed into. The chapter begins right after the accident. Ted is in deep shock. He calls he police, even though he can tell the driver is dead. He is 57 and had worked hard to buy his truck, which he uses for transporting items. It is his main form of income. He learns that the driver who died was just “a kid of twenty-four” (92). He is relieved the other passenger is, despite some broken bones, okay. Even though he feels responsible for what happened, no one is holding him responsible, not the police or the insurance companies. The car swerved into him. Ted still remembers the horrible “cosmic smack” (91) the other car made when it crashed into his truck.

Ted hires a lawyer to...