Jackie, the narrator of this story, has had a fascination with Boner McPharlin ever since she first saw him. Boner is the expelled troublemaker that appears in several other stories, notably in “Long, Clear View,” and even though he is several years older than Jackie, she takes him up on a ride around town in his van. Though nothing happens on this or subsequent rides—they mostly ride for hours with Boner barely talking—she gets a sexual reputation. Jackie endures the gossip, which is “brutal,” because she believes she loves Boner. As a result, Jackie makes friends with some girls who are actually doing the things that Jackie is accused of, which shocks her. Because of this, she then becomes a serious student, and finds herself becoming bored with her rides with Boner and with their friendship not developing further. She stops seeing him.

During this time, the town starts to slide into drugs, Boner gets fired from the cannery he was working at, and he’s later found viciously beaten with his legs broken. Jackie visits Boner, and he tells her that he witnessed his father assault his mother, and that he wasn’t fired for stealing, only for fishing for sharks off the docks when he shouldn’t have.