Chapter 37: Johnny's death is very hard on Francie and Neeley. Although Francie continues to attend church with her mother, she tells Neeley that she no longer believes in God. Katie says that the family needs to return to their usual customs, so that night, they will read a story from the Bible. She chooses the birth of Jesus for that evening's reading. It is unusual for Katie to kiss her children, but that evening, she kisses both of them before they go to bed.
Chapter 38: The new baby is due in May. Katie is worried about how she can earn enough money to feed the family, when she is unable to work as hard as normal. The best thing, everyone tells Katie, would be for Francie to quit school and get a job, but Katie refuses to even consider this choice. She prays to Johnny and asks him to help her.
McGarrity, who owns the saloon where Johnny most often did his drinking, genuinely loved Johnny and valued his conversations with him. Although Johnny died owing McGarrity a lot of money, McGarrity considers the bill amply paid through Johnny's friendship. McGarrity offers after-school jobs to Francie and Neeley.
Chapter 39: Before her father's death, Francie always received good grades. After her father died, she began writing about poverty, drunkenness, and death. The teacher does not like these topics and wants Francie to write about beautiful and pleasant things, as she did in the past. However, Francie realizes that all the writing that earned her good grades was about things that she had never experienced.
