- Jim Nightshade stops at the corner of Hickory Street and Main Street. He turns to Will, who, anticipating what Jim is about to ask, begins to protest.
- Jim pleads for them to go look at the fifth house for just one minute.
- We learn that once when the boys were plucking fruit from trees on the block, they saw a "stage" where actors "let fall clothes to the rug, stood raw and animal-crazy, naked, like shivering horses, hands out to touch each other" (6.14).
- In other words, it was a couple having sex. Will's adolescent mind can't quite deal with it. He fled while Jim watched entranced.
- Jim wants to return to the house tonight to try and see the same spectacle again. Will refuses.
- Jim gives Will his library books and heads off to what has been dubbed the "Theater." Three houses down, he calls back an insult after Will.
- Will walks home quickly.