Ruby Holler

Florida asks Tiller to explain what the rocking chair in the corner of the cabin is. Though Tiller tells her she can sit in it anytime, Florida refuses. The next day, however, Tiller hears her secretly rocking in the chair. He wonders what his childhood would have been like had he never been rocked by a loving adult.

Back at Boxton Creek Home, the Trepids enjoy the quiet created by the twins’ absence. Mrs. Trepid especially dreads their return at the end of summer. Mr. Trepid sneaks away to a private shed where he can be alone. He thinks of a boy named Joey who died of a fever in their care a few years ago. Though Mr. Trepid wanted to phone a doctor, Mrs. Trepid insisted the fever was a normal childhood ailment. Mr. Trepid had asked Dallas to watch over Joey, and Dallas was present when Joey passed away.

The next morning, the twins wake to the smell of pancakes. Dallas tosses a shoe at Florida, but misses and hits a window. Both twins are surprised when Dallas is not punished. He is also not punished for using Sairy’s fruit bowl to hold worms. Florida and Dallas expect the Moreys to have rules that must be followed, but the Moreys do not set any.

After breakfast, Tiller and Sairy explain that the trips are gifts to one another, to be paid for by separate funds that each have saved and buried on the property. They leave Dallas and Florida alone in the cottage while they head out to retrieve some of the money from their hiding places. Once the couple is gone, Florida suggests she and Dallas follow them, in order to learn where the money is hidden.

Tiller and Sairy—knowing every inch of the holler—make their way to the “understone funds” where the money is hidden. Though they initially kept their respective hiding places a secret, they revealed them to one another on their 60th birthdays. Tiller thinks about how they do not discuss how much they miss their children.

Dallas and Florida set out to follow the Moreys but are unsure which direction to go.

The Moreys return to the cottage, unable to locate Dallas and Florida. As they wait for them to appear, they whittle and reminisce about their son Buddy. Soon, they hear a shout: Florida is stuck in a briar bush. When the four reassemble at the cottage, Dallas and Florida insist they followed the couple because they feared for their safety.

Later, as the twins play in the sand, Tiller and Sairy discuss the buried money. Tiller regrets telling the twins of it, fearing it may be a temptation for them. The twins discuss the money as they dig for worms. Florida fantasizes about the money but knows stealing it would bring trouble. Dallas suggests they bury their own money as a kind of buried treasure.

The Moreys bring Dallas and Florida to meet with Mr. Trepid, but the twins refuse to go to the Home. They tell the twins a story of when their young son believed himself to be an orphan, and the twins are puzzled as to why Sairy tells them this. They meet Mr. Trepid at a diner, and he badgers the twins about the Moreys’ money.

Meanwhile, Sairy meets Mrs. Trepid at the Boxton Creek Home to retrieve Dallas’s passport. Mrs. Trepid tries to make Sairy pay a large sum for procuring the passport.

Dallas and Florida prepare to leave by train. They will take some of the items intended for the trips with the Moreys but leave money to pay the couple for them.

In their room, the Moreys discuss the twins’ date of birth. Sairy explains that the date on Dallas’s passport is different than the date the twins told them.

That night, Dallas dreams of a former foster family. When Florida wakes him to escape for the train, Dallas does not get up.

Tiller lies in bed, awake. He thinks about a time when their daughter, Lucy, became sick. As the couple waited for the doctor’s test results, Tiller deduced that Lucy was allergic to the orange popsicles she had been eating. He made a special soup for Lucy and, after eating it, she healed. Tiller worries he may not be up to caring for Florida on the trip.

Sairy, too, lies awake. She gets up and looks through a trunk of keepsakes, recalling how Tiller coaxed her back to Ruby Holler after she’d gone to New York to attend college.

The twins set out for the train, but quickly become lost. They recall living with the Dreeps, a couple who locked them in the cellar. They decide to sleep where they are until it becomes light and they can regain their bearings, determined to catch the train the next night. The ground is rocky and neither can sleep. They tell each other of the plans for the respective trips with each of the Moreys.

As they try to sleep, Florida recalls the Burgerton family—another foster family who returned the twins to the Boxton Creek Home, insisting they were “trouble.”

Back at Boxton Creek Home, Mr. Trepid meets with a man known as “Z.” Mr. Trepid pays Z to gather information from Ruby Holler.

The twins awaken, hungry, though neither says this to the other. They immediately smell bacon and follow the smell, where they discover Sairy and Tiller at a campfire. The Moreys praise the twins for their smart idea to test out the sleeping bags before the trips. The twins play along, not admitting that they had planned to run away.

Alone, Sairy points out to Tiller that he was wrong about his suspicion that the twins were searching for the hidden money. Sairy is certain that the twins were attempting to run away, though she is unsure why they desire to do so.

Mrs. Trepid recalls how the twins came to Boxton Creek Home: A woman left them in a box on the Home’s doorstep. Mrs. Trepid convinced her husband to tear up the forms that they were required to fill out to notify the state of the presence of the twins; instead, she wanted to raise the twins as her own children. However, the twins quickly became a lot of work, and, when they were toddlers, Mrs. Trepid decided to list them as available for adoption. No one, however, wanted to take on two children instead of just one.

Back at the house, Tiller encourages the twins to run around and yell. They run around the holler, and, when alone, discuss their next move. They decide that they will go on the trips with Tiller and Sairy, but then escape by train when they return.

Meanwhile, Sairy and Tiller discuss the trips, teasing one another about missing the other. Tiller briefly wonders if they should cancel the trips, but Sairy assures him that the twins are looking forward to them.

At night, a storm passes through Ruby Holler and the twins and the Moreys all have nightmares. Many involve rivers or details from the upcoming trips.

At breakfast, everyone shares the nightmares they had. Sairy serves peach ice cream with the waffles as “medicine” to erase the nightmares. Tiller proposes that—like the twins did with the sleeping bags—they prepare some more for their trips. He suggests he and Florida try out the boat and Sairy and Dallas take a practice hike. Everyone agrees it is a good idea.

Florida asks Tiller questions about everything from the river to bugs as they paddle. She thinks back to their departure and her anxiety about being separated from Dallas. Meanwhile, Sairy and Dallas hike out of the holler and look down upon it. Sairy asks Dallas if he ever wonders who he would be without Florida, but Dallas cannot imagine being with her.