- When Marcelo tells the parental units about the trip to Vermont, Aurora's thrilled. Arturo thinks it's a really bad idea.
- Aurora and Marcelo have no idea why, but Marcelo senses that his dad is once again being shady.
- Aurora wins, and when Jasmine comes to get Marcelo, Aurora's packed them lunch for the road. They pack the lunch and Namu the dog into Jasmine's Jeep, and they're on their way.
- Before they leave, Jasmine gives Aurora some guy named Jonah's number. On the trip, Marcelo asks who Jonah is.
- Old family friend, says Jasmine. His younger brother Cody and hers, James, the one who was killed by Kickaz the horse, were best friends.
- Jasmine's dad's house is run down and has a yard full of faded plastic animals.
- Welcome to another lesson about class distinctions, Marcelo.
- Even more eccentric than a yard full of pink flamingoes is Jasmine's dad, Amos, who has dementia and likes to say crude things every other sentence.
- Jasmine's got to get her old man to a doctor's appointment, which means getting him to take a bath. He tells her he took one last month.
- She manages to get him in the tub and into fresh clothes anyway, with much grumbling on his part.
- She offers Marcelo the choice of staying on the farm or going with them to the appointment, and he chooses to stay on the farm and hang with Namu and Amos's dog Gomer.
- Tomorrow, Jasmine tells him, they'll load Kickaz down with supplies and take the three-hour trip the hill and to the secret pond, where Amos keeps a fishing shack. He'll need coal and food for the winter.
- Then they'll camp out for the night, which means Marcelo will sleep in a tent with her. He's both happy and nervous about this.
- After she leaves, he sits by the crosses erected in honor of Jasmine's dead mother and brother and thinks about the Vidromek case.
- He decides he'll put it out of his mind until after the trip. Right now, he has sleeping beside Jasmine to think about.