In January 1866, Vyry, Innis Brown, Jim, and little Minna are, along with thousands of other emancipated black people, looking for a place to settle. While camping out one night, they begin to sing. Brown then wonders if they can find a church in Alabama. Vyry thinks they can; if not, they can start one themselves. They figure, too, that they can get assistance from the Freedman’s Bureau if they go to Montgomery, where the bureau could help them to get settled on a homestead. In the end, Vyry and Innis decide against making such a long, risky trip. They settle instead “on a good spot in the midst of a virgin pine forest” (356) near a river. Brown and Vyry are overjoyed to be building their first home. Now, anything seems possible.

Randall Ware stands looking at Shady Oaks, now deserted and surrounded by barbed wire. There’s a “For Sale” sign there, which he reads repeatedly, still not believing what is written. It’s been seven years since he last visited this place. He returns, too, to his old shop. His anvil is still in good shape.

He remains in Dawson for about a month and hears nothing about

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