As the car turns westward onto the concrete highway, Al is alert for signs of possible breakdowns. He asks Ma if she is frightened of what lies ahead in California, and she replies that her thinking about the future would be too much. She has to take care of what’s in front of her.
At sundown, the family pulls over to camp, and they find themselves by Ivy and Sarah (Sairy) Wilson, a couple from Kansas, stranded with a broken-down car. Sairy is ill, but she and her husband welcome the Joads. Granpa becomes ill and, sheltered in a tent offered by the Wilsons, has a stroke and dies. Although full of grief, the Joads must decide what to do with Granpa’s body. The law requires deaths to be reported, but that would cost the family forty dollars. They decide to bury Granpa in the night, although they are unhappy knowing that Granpa would hate anything so stealthy. Still, they need the money to get to California.
Granpa is buried in a quilt borrowed from Sairy, who also offers a blank page from the Wilson’s family Bible so that Tom can write a note explaining the circumstances of his death, in case of the body’s discovery.
During supper, Ivy Wilson explains how car trouble and Sairy’s illness have hampered their progress and depleted their finances. Al and Tom offer to fix their car and propose that the two families travel together, sharing the cars. At first the Wilsons are reluctant, but Ma convinces them it is better to work together.
