Summary

Nat and Ruth charge the children at the orphanage five dollars to speak to the dead. He is successful until he reads for a girl named Raffaella. Nat starts to talk with Raffaella’s dead mother until she stops him to announce that her mother is alive and living in Miami. She pays her money and quickly departs, leaving Nat and Ruth only to speak about life’s “mysteries” (48).

A salesman named Mr. Bell visits the house, but Father rejects what he is selling on the grounds that Mr. Bell declares his lack of a connection with Jesus. Shortly after, Nat and Ruth run into Mr. Bell while they are walking into the town of Troy, NY. He offers to give them a ride. The two spend the day shoplifting enough food to eat outside while passersby judge their appearance.

Ruth wakes up in...