Chapters 11 and 12 Summary

When Sughrue tells Rosie that Betty Sue is dead, she refuses to believe it, angrily telling him to leave her bar and never come back. He drives to his acreage in Montana, where he recovers from the beating he received from Jackson's men. A few days later, Trahearne arrives, seeking refuge from what he suggests is too much caring for his welfare. The two men settle into a routine, with Sughrue working on getting his health back and Trahearne working on getting his writing back. Sughrue finds a draft of an overwrought, sentimentally written poem that he doesn't think is very good, but that he keeps anyway. Soon afterwards, Trahearne lapses back into his routine of binge drinking, and a week or so after he arrives, he takes off again.

After Trahearne leaves, Sughrue fills in temporarily at a strip bar...