Cletus Underwood, a classmate of Summer's (who she would rather not be associated with), befriends Ob (and later, Summer). Cletus begins to spend a lot of time at their trailer listening to Ob tell about May's "visits." Cletus is nonjudgmental and is empathetic toward Ob. Because Cletus had a near-death experience as a small child, Ob becomes convinced that Cletus can help him communicate with May's spirit. Ob wants to install him like some "afterlife antenna." Cletus shows Ob an advertisement about a medium, named Reverend Young, who communicates with the dead. He suggests that they go to Putnam County to find Reverend Young and stop at the state capitol in Charleston on the way home. Ob, Cletus, and Summer look forward to the trip. Summer hopes that contacting May through Reverend Young will alleviate Ob's depression and give him a reason to keep going. They are crushed when they arrive in Putnam County only to discover that Reverend Young has died. Ob decides to return home. Summer and Cletus do not mention their plan to stop at the state capitol.
As they pass the capitol, "Right out of the blue, [Ob] wanted to live again." Not wanting to disappoint Summer and Cletus, he turns the car around and goes back to the capitol where they spend an enjoyable day. They return home that night and as they are taking their belongings out of the car (Cletus is going to spend the night), an owl flies overhead. The owl reminds summer of May and how much she misses her. Summer cries for the first time since May's death. The next morning, Ob, Summer, and Cletus take all of Ob's whirligigs out to May's garden where they erect them. They set the whirligigs free, along with May's spirit, and find consolation in their memories of May.
