- Despite Joe's resolve in the previous chapter, Chapter 9 begins with another memory.
- Joe is camping in a forest while on a yearly fishing trip with his father. He's fifteen, and the infamous Bill Harper is going to join him tomorrow.
- Joe wonders how to tell his father that he wants to go fishing with Bill instead. When he does break the news, his father is silent for a moment and then says that Joe can take his fishing rod. Joe knows that his father's rod is his most prized and expensive possession, so letting Joe take it is a super big deal.
- The next morning, Bill comes, and he and Joe go fishing. At the end of the day, a fish bites unexpectedly, and Bill drops Joe's father's rod into the water. They try to, ahem, fish it out, but to no avail.
- Joe and Bill clean the fish and drink some root beer before separating. Joe thinks about how he's going to tell his father about the rod. He thinks about how his parents don't seem to have much money, and yet his father has a lush garden that always keeps the family well fed.
- Yet in spite of all these luxuries, Joe thinks of his father as a failure who can't make money. His parents talk about moving to California to try and make things work.
- Joe arrives back at camp and climbs into the tent where his father is asleep. He tells his dad the news about the rod.
- His father replies that they shouldn't let a little thing like that spoil their last camping trip together. Joe knows that he's getting older and that now he's going to go on fishing trips with his friends instead of his father. He thinks about how he and his father have lost something.
- Joe wakes up in the present, feeling alone.