Alabama Moon

The next morning Sanders arrives. He angrily insists that Moon walk to the edge of his cell within Sanders’s reach, but Moon refuses. Sanders is so enraged that Officer Pete must escort him out. One of the other prisoners comments that Sanders seems crazy. Moon continues to go without food. He asks about Mr. Wellington again but gets no answers.

Officer Pete drives Moon to the courthouse the next morning for a hearing. Moon must brave a thick line of reporters who ask him to comment or bare his teeth for them. In the courtroom, Sanders sits at a table to one side, Mr. Wellington to the other, both in front of Judge Mackin. The judge comments that he does not like people who eat other people’s dogs, and Moon states that Sanders lied. The judge snaps at Moon, and Mr. Wellington tells Moon not to speak unless acknowledged first. The judge asks Sanders questions, and Sanders lies blatantly under oath about Moon trying to shoot him. He also says Moon killed his dogs; he saw “their carcasses hangin’ from a tree. Guts layin’ everywhere. Meat cleaned to the bone” (251).

The judge gives Mr. Wellington the chance to question Sanders. Under his questioning, Sanders says he was beside a creek when Moon shot the pistol at him. Mr. Wellington produces the pistol, log photos, and bullets and states Moon fired twice into the log; he explains that the bullets he retrieved can be tested and linked to the pistol. He asks Moon to explain how the log he fired into was nowhere near Sanders: “‘Cause there aren’t any pine logs by creeks! They’re all up at the top of the hill!” (255). Mr. Wellington convinces the judge that they should meet at the precinct’s shooting range near town to see further helpful points. The judge agrees.

Moon rides with Officer Pete and Judge Mackin to the shooting range. On the way, the judge gets hamburgers for the three of them. Moon mentions how Sanders looks angry “again” when they pull in, and the judge asks Officer Pete what is wrong with Sanders (257-58). Officer Pete says does not know. Mr. Wellington has the rifle that was Pap’s, but when Moon asks how he got it, he tells Moon to keep quiet. Mr. Wellington wants Moon to prove he would never have missed Sanders from 10 yards away, so he sets up a medicine bottle on a pen in the ground about 100 yards away. Moon hits it with one shot. Sanders tries to leave, but the judge tells him to stay. Then Hal arrives with the three dogs. The judge tells Officer Pete to arrest Sanders for lying under oath with other charges to follow: “I’ll think up some more stuff before we get back to town” (262).

Mr. Wellington drives the judge and Moon back to town. The judge is sympathetic to Moon’s case: “We automatically think we got to put him in the system. Get him in the boys’ home. Make him property of the state. Well, everybody can’t fit that slot […] You’ll kill a boy like this in an institution” (264). The judge admits he does not know what to do with Moon. Mr. Wellington tells them he found Moon’s uncle, who is in Mobile. Moon’s uncle “says he’ll adopt him” (264).

Mr. Wellington drops off the judge at the courthouse. Judge Mackin returns the two deerskin caps to Moon and wishes him well in Mobile, asking Moon to write to him. Moon asks about his uncle; Mr. Wellington says the photo is beneath the seat. He tells Moon the rest of his things from Pap’s ammunition box are in the trunk and that he should be able to get his rifle back as well. Moon thinks his uncle looks like Pap, but more “excited and energetic” (266). Mr. Wellington says he tracked down Moon’s uncle by finding in Mobile the jeweler whose name he found inside Pap’s watch, then asking around for Blakes in the area. He also says that when he got Pap’s rifle from Hal, he told Hal not to show up with the dogs, but Hal wanted to help Moon. Mr. Wellington says they can go to see Hal and Kit the next day. They return to Mr. Wellington’s lodge. That night, Moon asks if he will have a brother living at his uncle’s house. Mr. Wellington tells him he has two cousins.

They go to see Hal and Mr. Mitchell the next morning. Hal tells Moon that Sanders’s mother came to fetch the wiener dog; the bloodhounds will stay with Hal’s father when he goes to Hellenweiler. Mr. Mitchell says goodbye kindly and tells Moon, “You get in touch with me if you ever need anything” (272). Moon and Hal agree to visit and race trucks when Hal is out of Hellenweiler. Moon goes next to the hospital to see Kit, but the room is empty. A nurse tells him Kit is in intensive care and not allowed visitors. Moon refuses to leave; Mr. Wellington asks if Moon can stay the night in the waiting room and the nurse agrees. In the morning, Mr. Wellington comes to check on Moon. Moon wants to stay even though they will not let him see Kit. Moon has a nightmare about Kit being in danger and he wakes and runs through the hospital looking for him, but a doctor catches him. When Moon wakes again, Mr. Wellington is there and tells Moon that Kit died.

Back at the lodge, Moon opts to sleep outside. He starts a small fire and writes a long letter to Kit, telling him memories of his time with Pap in the woods. He tells about his first deer kill and how he buried Pap. He also tells Kit skills Pap taught him: “I described the process of building a snare, stick by stick. I described a deadfall, complete with pictures. I made a list of everything that went into skinning and curing hides. I listed the vegetables that we grew. the best time so the year to plant them, and how deep to place their seeds in the soil. I knew that Kit would want to know all these things” (280).

Concerned about Moon, Mr. Wellington goes the next morning to bring Hal. Hal tells Moon that Kit “had the best time of his life out in the forest” (282) with Moon. He stays with Moon part of the day and tells him there is nothing wrong with missing Kit. Later, Moon tries to eat and begins to think about his uncle and aunt, but when he thinks about his cousins he becomes upset again and must “blank [his] thoughts” (282).

Early in the morning before Moon’s uncle arrives, Moon walks to his old shelter. He replaces Pap’s rifle and hangs Kit’s and his hats on the wall. He listens to the forest, but it is quiet to him; “The forest gave me nothing. It told me nothing” (283). He leaves the shelter and checks on Pap’s and Momma’s grave sites. They are peacefully undisturbed. When Moon leaves, he feels he will not be back. He returns to the lodge and waits outside for his uncle to arrive. Moon’s uncle tells him about his extended family in Mobile who are eager to meet him. Moon lets his uncle embrace him. Uncle Mike, a tree-trimmer, smells like pine sap.

On the drive to Mobile, Moon asks if he can see Hal again, and his uncle says they will be only four hours away and can visit. Mr. Wellington plans to bring Moon’s rifle when he comes to Mobile soon. Moon asks why his uncle never came searching for Pap, Momma, and him when they went to the woods. His uncle says he did but could not find them. His uncle tells him that Pap was not any different than him or other young men growing up, but that Vietnam changed him in a way that made him want to live without friends. Uncle Mike tells Moon, “The important thing is that you don’t have to feel the way your father did. Most people don’t” (288). Moon thanks Uncle Mike for taking him in and tells him he does not want to be alone anymore.

Moon meets Aunt Sara and his cousins David and Alice as soon as he arrives. Aunt Sara says she’ll feed him four times a day, and Moon says he’d like that. David mentions he has climbing spikes that help one climb a tree and Moon is immediately interested. At dinner Uncle Mike shows Moon it is acceptable to use the bread to scoop and eat the pork instead of the silverware Moon is unused to. That night, Uncle Mike sits with Moon as he beds down on the couch, and Moon thinks how Uncle Mike’s eyes “were Pap’s own eyes, but there was something more gentle and calm about them” (294). He sees that Uncle Mike is kind and concerned; Moon reassures Uncle Mike that he, Moon, will be fine.