Pim is at the house, one of Neddie's friends. Pim Steward is a strong young fellow, about seventeen, light curly hair, blue eyes, wide forehead, triangle face. He tells Jack he can get him hired on where he works, at a construction job, building an addition to a school in a small mining town near Princeton.
Jack has the feeling there must have been a family pow wow about his escapade, and this offer is the result.
"But I'm not old enough to work in construction."
Pim, "Oh, don't worry about that. You'd be a carpenter's helper. They won't even ask your age. You're plenty big enough, and if anybody says anything, just tell them you're sixteen."
"Okay, but we'd better go see the mink farmer, to clear things up with him. I don't want this to reflect on Dad."
So they go to see Mr Volver.
He doesn't mind, "If this is a chance for you to get a start in construction, go for it. I can find another helper, no problem. You didn't like it here anyway, I could see that."
Sunday morning Pim and Jack set out for Princeton, about a three hour drive.
'The westward wind, that yearns to wander…' Pim has a small travel trailer set up on the work site, with just room enough for two people. It's kind of fun. They get a few things for breakfast at a corner store, and go up to a little lake in the hills for a swim.
In the morning Pim introduces Jack to the boss, and all is set; Jack can start right away. He does the same sort of thing as at the mink farmer's new house. He carries lumber, shovels dirt, digs ditches, fetches nails, strapping, tar paper, sealant, insulation. Whatever anyone needs done or moved or brought from one place to another. It's hot, but Jack likes the work. Nice and mindless, so he can think about more important things.
Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon, ontogeny, phylogeny, genetic drift. How did it, how does it, how could it, all happen?
Pim meets a local girl, and starts to hang around with her. Her parents don't like him; he's too old for her. But Sharon is friendly and personable. A bit chubby for Jack's taste, but Pim is not so particular. Towards the end of their stay the three of them take to going to a park, and Pim and his girlfriend make love in a shed while Jack reads a book in the shade of a tree, and keeps an eye out for anyone coming. He feels a bit guilty, this girl being so young, but it's not for him to tell Pim what to do.
She's so warm and open with Jack too… he wonders if she would… But that would be a betrayal all around.
