Chapter 1: Roy first notices the strange boy when Dana Matherson smashes his face up against the school bus window. The strange boy appears to be hurrying for the bus…but he isn't wearing any shoes or backpack. The strange boy runs right past the bus.
Chapter 2: Roy sees the running boy again. Roy fights with Dana on the bus and chases the running boy onto a golf course. Back at school, Roy meets a girl who warns him to stay out of the running boy's business.
Chapter 3: Delinko's on the case again. Curly has called down the police officer once more to report another crime. This time, air has been let out of the tires of the flatbed truck in addition to the property stakes being uprooted and refilled again.
Chapter 4: Roy gives Dana the apology letter and won't give up on learning more about the barefooted boy. He makes the risky decision to learn more about Beatrice Leep - the angry girl who told him to leave the barefooted boy alone.
Chapter 5: Roy sneaks out of the house while his mother is on the phone with his father talking about the school bus confrontation (and how the school is afraid Dana's family will sue so they're not punishing Dana). He bikes to the golf course where he got hit and runs through the trees and into the woods.
Chapter 6: News about the vandalism at the Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House construction site makes the papers, and Officer Delinko is given desk duty for falling asleep in his cruiser. Meanwhile, Roy goes back to Mullet Finger's campsite, only to find that he's vanished.