Chapter 26 Summary

Billy misses the picture show more than anyone else in Thalia. He doesn't understand when it doesn't reopen, and he starts sweeping further and further away. Sonny worries about him and doesn't know what to do, but he also doesn't know what to do about himself. Sonny buys a television, but Billy doesn't really like it. He keeps going to the picture show night after night, waiting for it to open again. Sonny takes another lease to pump, trying to tire himself out so he can sleep at night. One morning in late November, Sonny wakes up early and goes downstairs. Billy is not in the pool hall, but that isn't unusual. Sonny hears a big cattle truck roar past the pool hall and then brake suddenly with a shriek, and Sonny thinks it must have been stopped short by the traffic light...