Summary

The reader finds out in the intro that A.J. is writing to a girl named Maya. The chapter intro, comprised of A.J.'s thoughts on "The Luck of Roaring Camp" by Bret Harte, is filled with more sentimentality and is more soft-hearted than the previous two have been.

In the weeks after the robbery, the Alice Island community gives A.J. some sympathy for his losing "Tamerlane" but also suggests to him that his prices be lowered. A.J. listens to his customers kindly but doesn't change a thing about the store. He also keeps his routine of running without locking the front door. The first plot twist occurs when A.J. returns from a run and finds a young girl, 2-year-old Maya, sitting in his store with a note from her biological mother stating...