Letter 59: March 31
- Leigh writes to Mr. Henshaw to say thanks for the encouragement and advice.
- He tells him he won the honorable mention and is going to continue writing.
Diary 60: March 31
- Barry and Leigh walk to the post office and the butterfly trees.
- When they get back to the house, guess who's there? Dad. And Bandit.
- (It's a good thing, too, because Shmoop just couldn't cope with the idea of Bandit being gone forever.)
- Barry gracefully exits the scene. He knows that Leigh and his dad deserve privacy.
- They make small talk at first.
- Dad calls him "kid," and Leigh reunites with Bandit.
- Dad explains that he found the dog by asking other truckers every day on the CB radio. Finally, he heard from a guy who found Bandit in a snowstorm and let him jump in the truck.
- Dad and the trucker met up to make the exchange.
- The talk becomes pretty awkward; Dad comments on Leigh's height, "which is what grownups always say when they don't know what else to say to kids" (60.9).
- Leigh wonders why his dad came by, and his dad says he was waiting to pick up a load of broccoli nearby. Not smart, Dad, not smart at all.
- Leigh has been waiting and waiting for his dad to show up and is disappointed that his dad only came because of the broccoli.
- Mom comes home, and Dad invites himself inside.
- Mom makes coffee, and Leigh shows his dad the lunchbox alarm and the story he wrote.
- Mom brings the coffee, and the two adults sit and stare at each other.
- Dad says he misses her and asks if there's any chance.
- Mom says no, they can't get back together because there are "too many broken promises. Things like that" (60.37).
- Dad gets up to go, everyone hugs, and he leaves the house, leaving Bandit with Leigh.
- Thinking of all those long, lonely drives, Leigh yells out that his dad needs to keep Bandit.
- Dad hesitates, but Leigh says he won't be able to amuse Bandit when he and his mom are out of the house so much.
- Dad and Bandit drive off.
- Mom is inside staring off into space, and Leigh goes to his room to think.
- He listens to the gas station bell pinging and thinks about how the broccoli maybe brought Dad close to them, but that his dad made it the rest of the way to the house because he missed them. It makes Leigh feel sad and good all at the same time.