Thomas tells Victor a story about how when Thomas was 13, he had a dream that told him to walk to Spokane so he could have a vision. Victor recalls how Thomas helped him when he got his foot stuck in a wasp's nest at age 12. Because Victor’s father’s body was not found for a week, the trailer reeks and it is difficult for Thomas and Victor to go in to sort through the man's things. They arrive at Victor’s father’s trailer. When the plane lands, Victor apologizes for beating up Thomas. Although Victor is initially embarrassed at Thomas’s attempts to converse with her, Cathy is friendly and they all enjoy talking to each other. On the plane to Phoenix, Victor and Thomas sit next to Cathy, a former Olympic gymnast. Victor only stopped when Norma Many Horses, an older woman, intervened. The other boys watched and did not intervene. Victor remembers a time when he was 15 and beat Thomas badly while drunk. With no other option - and some guilt over his behavior towards his one-time friend - he decides to take up Thomas’s offer. Victor remembers spending the Fourth of July with Thomas and listening to his stories. They were friends as young boys but haven’t been close for years. Victor is reluctant because Thomas is known for being eccentric - he tells the same stories over and over again, and sometimes talks nonsense. Thomas Builds-the-Fire offers to lend Victor the money on the condition that he accompany Victor to Phoenix. The tribal council normally puts money aside for situations like this, but they are low on cash and can only give him $100.

Victor wants to go to Phoenix, where his father lived, to close his father’s savings account and pick up his ashes, but he doesn’t have enough money to do so.

Victor’s father dies, and he is devastated although he has not seen him in a few years. Unlike many of the stories in the collection, this story is narrated in the third person.

The lone ranger theme