- Epigraph: "Of the thirty-six ways of avoiding disaster, running away is best."—Anonymous
- Carmen takes a walk to the creek, but heads back home because she doesn't want her father to worry.
- She needn't have worried that he'd worry, though, because when Carmen returns she finds her dad sitting at the dinner table without a care in the world. Anger consumes her.
- She storms out and throws two rocks through the dining room window right past her father's head. Smooth move, Carmen.
- So, like the epigraph for this chapter recommends, she runs.
- Bee writes to Tibby expressing her deep love of the outdoors—she pretty much wants to do everything outside.
- Lena pays Kostos a visit at the lumberyard, but he just gives her a quick nod and goes back to work. Lena, however, doesn't like to be ignored.
- Carmen lies down by the bank of the creek and feels like praying; she wonders if it's bad that she only prays when she needs something.
- Realizing her actions are unforgivable, she sneaks back into her dad's house, gathers her things, and boards a bus home.
- She writes to Bee and sends her the Pants, along with a note saying she hopes they bring her "good sense."