The rain comes in October, and turns the dusty ground into mud. The white children's bus splashes the Logan children on purpose. Little Man is especially bothered by the cruelty of the bus driver. One morning he gets thrown into a ditch and covered in mud. The children run into Jeremy, who tries to talk to them, but they do not answer. They are all angry. Stacey has a plan, and tells the others to meet him outside at lunchtime. That afternoon, he tells them to dig a large hole in the road the bus takes to school. They then fill up the hole with dirty rainwater, so the hole is no longer visible. After school they hurry back to the hole and wait for the bus. Of course, the bus gets trapped in the hole. All the children have to walk home. The driver tells them, "All y'all gonna be walkin' for at least two weeks by the time we get this thing hauled outa here and up to Strawberry to get fixed." Chapter 3, pg. 55 At home that evening, Mama and Big Ma laugh happily about the incident as the children try to pretend they don't know how the hole ever got there.
Later that night, the children try to study as they laugh about what happened. Then a neighbor comes to the door. He tells Mama, "It's...it's them again. They's ridin' tonight." Chapter 3, pg. 60 Mama looks afraid and tells the children to go to bed. They all listen from a nearby room, and hear that the bus driver is angry about something. Convinced that they have been caught and will be burned, the children are very frightened. Cassie forces herself to go to sleep, and when she wakes up, it's the middle of the night. She sneaks outside and sees several cars near the house. The people in the cars seem to decide this is the wrong house, and they drive away. Cassie sees Mr. Morrison hiding near the house with a shotgun. Frightened, she goes back inside and tries to sleep.
