Love and Joe fly to Reno, where Forty is hospitalized. She doesn’t want to tell anyone about the baby yet. At the hospital, Dottie is there. She says Forty has a wonderful idea about what to do with Joe. In the hospital room, Forty says he is now a writer, fully committed to the craft. His cover story is that he disappeared so he could write. He claims to be writing about a kidnapping, and that he was in the desert on a walkabout. He remembers being in the casino, then the desert, then seeing a girl, then nothing beyond that. Then he asks to speak to Joe alone. He is furious that Joe left him in the desert. Forty, tells him about Roosevelt, showing Joe that Love told him the truth. Forty wants a new dog, which he will call Professor, or Prof, one of his nicknames for Joe. He also says Joe is going to keep writing for him. All Forty wants is an Oscar. He asks a nurse to take his flowers to anyone who has no family, and she is touched by what Joe knows is a cynical gesture.

Dottie says Joe is going to start a book club at The Pantry.