Goodbye Days

Carver texts Jesmyn as soon as he gets home, telling her he had fun. He feels guilty about his developing connection with her, however: “I wonder if Eli, wherever he is, can see me texting his girlfriend, talking about what a blast we had hanging out without him” (88).

It’s the day before school starts. Carver decides he is strong enough to handle the “goodbye day” with Nana Betsy and drives to her house to tell her he’ll do it. Once he gets there, though, he chickens out. He drives away again without knocking and hopes she’ll forget about the idea. 

Carver and his parents meet Attorney Jim Krantz. Although no formal charges have been made against Carver, the family wants to be prepared. Mr. Krantz explains Tennessee’s laws regarding criminally negligent homicide. A person can be charged with criminally negligent homicide if they know a certain action has a good chance of harming someone and they do it anyway. In Carver’s case, the key to a criminally negligent homicide conviction would be proving that Carver knew Mars was driving when he texted him. Mr. Krantz instructs Carver not to talk to anybody about the case. Carver learns that his parents anticipate paying $150,000 in legal fees and may need to borrow against the family home.