The Lincoln Highway

Emmett is the last to rise in the morning, finding everyone else talking over the breakfast Sally has prepared. Billy asks if Emmett ever went to the Imperial Theatre, which Billy heard about from Duchess. When Sally goes upstairs, Emmett follows. Sally tells Emmett she was not aware he was expecting company nor was she aware of his imminent departure. Emmett clarifies that he didn’t know about the visit either but that even her father had suggested they leave town. Sally is frustrated, and Emmett considers that he might be responsible for her feelings, as the two had shared a flirtation that ended abruptly when he went to Salina.

Going into town, Emmett decides not to avoid the fairgrounds. Instead he deliberately goes by the site of Jimmy Snyder’s death. A bully with a reputation for cruelty, Jimmy Snyder picked a fight with Emmett on the last night of the fair in 1952. He began by teasing Emmett and escalated to insinuations about why Emmett’s father didn’t serve in WWII. Emmett lashed out, punching Jimmy in the face. Jimmy tumbled back and fell, hitting his head on a cinderblock. After two months in a coma, Jimmy’s death resulted in Emmett’s arrest.