Sunny

Sunny goes into Darryl’s room while he is on his date with the intention of putting the photograph Gramps gave him on his nightstand. He stays to look around the room. Sunny gets in the bed and sniffs Darryl’s pillow “to feel what it must be like to be him” (128). He then grabs the other pillow, presumably his mother’s, and hugs it. Sunny begins to cry and squeezes the pillow tightly until he sees that there are countless blue ribbons in the pillow. Sunny begins pulling out “years and years and years” (129) of ribbons, crying while he does so, until Darryl enters the room and sees Sunny on the bed surrounded by ribbons.

Darryl stands silent for a moment, and then joins Sunny on the bed to hug “the rest of my tears out” (130). Darryl apologizes to Sunny again, this time

for what happened to your mother

for making you run

for running

for shutting down (130-31).

They lay curled up together on the bed.

Despite their moment of connection, Darryl and Sunny resume their awkward silence the next morning at breakfast. Sunny makes pancakes for them, and Darryl offers Sunny a sip of his coffee. When Sunny spits out the coffee—“WHY IS ANYONE DRINKING THIS STUFF?!” (133)—Darryl bursts out laughing for the first time in Sunny’s memory.