Trampoline

As Dawn and Mamaw are leaving the hearing, a bald man who was impressed by Dawn’s speech at the meeting approaches them. His name is Kenny Bilson, and he is a DJ at the station Dawn listens to and wants to interview her. He is also the older brother of Willett Bilson.

On the drive home, Mamaw explains how nothing would be accomplished at the hearing; it’s just a formality and the government has already made up its mind, they just needed to pretend like they had taken the community into consideration. She explains that the coal company holds all the power. Mamaw asks Dawn how she feels about what she did at the hearing. Dawn says she probably shouldn’t have yelled at the woman, and Mamaw agrees, but she doesn’t scold Dawn, she just states that she doesn’t like meetings because they only tear people apart. Dawn sleeps soundly, feeling proud of her newfound power.

The next day at school, Dawn’s friend Evie confronts her about speaking up at the meeting and warns her about potential backlash from their classmates. Dawn is afraid, but ultimately undeterred. Inside the school, Dawn runs into her brother Albert before class starts. He tries to convince her to come back to their Momma’s house to live. She punches him in the face, and the two start to fight, with Dawn ultimately stomping on Albert so hard that he cracks a rib. Two teachers break up the fight and suspend Dawn from school.

It is Thanksgiving the next day. Dawn wakes up as Mamaw is baking pies to take to her brother Fred’s house for dinner. When they arrive at Fred’s house, Dawn sees that her Mamaw’s nephews are there, all of whom work in coal mines, including one who works at the mine that Mamaw is protesting. There is a quiet tension at the dinner table, and they finish dinner quickly.

After dinner, Dawn and her cousin Denny go outside to get more firewood. He gives her whiskey to drink, and she relaxes. Fred confronts Mamaw about her petition, then claims to be concerned about Dawn’s involvement. Nobody responds, and Dawn wanders outside to go for a walk. She walks along a mine road and admires the trees and birds. As she is walking, she falls into a hole dug into the ground that is too deep for her to climb out of without help.

Dawn is still stuck at the bottom of the hole. She looks up at the stars in the dark sky, and they make her think of her dad. She explains that her father died, which is when Momma started drinking. Eventually, Momma finds Dawn in the hole. She is with Hubert, her father’s brother whom Momma is now living with, and they help Dawn out of the hole and then take her to the hospital. They pick up a friend, a man named Cinderella, on the way. Once they make it to the hospital, the doctor who examines Dawn says she can go home. Momma asks if there is something he can give her to make the pain go away, but the doctor can see that Momma is just trying to score drugs.

Momma and Dawn wait for Hubert to return with the car. Momma tells Dawn that this is the hospital where they brought Dawn’s dad before he died. Dawn notes Momma looks like she’s about to cry, but she stops when Hubert comes to pick them up. They drive to a store to buy beer. Hubert hands Dawn a beer while they all wait for Momma to get back to the car. A group of girls who look like they just left a party head into the store. When they come back outside, Cinderella calls out to them and gets out of the car. He grabs one of them by the arm, starting a fight. Dawn, the only one left in the car, slips into the front seat and drives away, leaving the crowd fighting and yelling after her.

It’s snowing as Dawn drives away, and she loses control of the car when she accelerates over a patch of ice. The car slides off the road and rolls down the mountain until it hits a tree. Dawn falls asleep and wakes up in the morning to the sound of her cousin Denny’s voice.

Denny helps Dawn out from the car and carries her back up to the road, where his own car is waiting. He tells Dawn: “You are needed here [...] You and your Mamaw. Telling the truth. Nobody can say so. But we do. Don’t take it personal when people threaten you” (43). Denny returns to the crashed car to retrieve Dawn’s things. Dawn notices that Denny’s truck is running, so she drives away again before he returns. She listens to Bilson Radio as she drives away, turning the volume up to blast the music.

Mamaw finds Dawn in the parking lot where she’s run out of gas. Dawn asks why she fights the coal companies, and Mamaw explains that they just make her mad. They fill the car with gas, and Mamaw encourages her to keep driving. Dawn finds it hard to figure out where she wants to go and starts to hyperventilate behind the wheel. She pulls up to a diner, where she orders coffee and thinks about how she used to go to places like this with her family before her dad died. She orders a milkshake and pancakes but returns to the car to head home before they are ready.