Trampoline

Dawn tells a story about a time a few years earlier when Hubert tricked Momma into believing she won a contest at the hardware store with a prize of $100-worth of flowers. Momma drove Dawn to the hardware store to pick up the flowers, but the cashier dismissed her saying that no such contest existed. On the way out of the store, a different employee tracked down Momma in the parking lot to give her the wilted flowers that were too old or damaged to sell. Dawn figured it was Momma’s beauty that caught the employee’s eye and convinced him to get the flowers for her. At home, Momma tells Dawn’s dad, who is still alive at the time of the story, what happened. Later that night, he goes to Hubert’s house, where the text implies that he confronted Hubert about lying to Momma.

The next morning, Dawn’s father is sitting at the table reading instructions for building the trampoline he bought for Dawn and Albert over the summer but hadn’t put together yet. Dawn remarked that her dad had four brothers, including Hubert and Filbert, but out of all of them, only her dad was the type to read the instructions before putting something together. Dawn’s father takes Albert somewhere in the truck, but Dawn stays behind and watches her mom and Hubert plant the flowers while sitting very close to one another. She returns to the inside of the trailer, where she reflects on the peacefulness of the day and imagines what it would be like if her life were always like this. Albert storms in and blasts heavy metal music, interrupting her dream.

Three weeks later, Dawn is at her grandfather’s house, her dad’s father, Green Jewell, with Hubert. Green says that he wants Hubert to buy some gravel to expand his driveway. Dawn followed Hubert outside to the bulldozer, but he tells her to go away. Dawn refuses, and Hubert hits her across the face. When Dawn gets home, she resolves not to tell anyone about Hubert hitting her.

Momma takes the family to Kolonel Krispy. While eating burgers and fries next to a river, Momma tells Dawn that Dad used to take her there with her sister, June. She tells more stories about what it was like when she, her sister, and dad were younger. Momma adds that Hubert told her that he hit Dawn, and that if he did it again, she would kill him.

At home, Dawn crawls into bed with her mother, and they both draw pictures together. The next morning, Dawn wakes up to find out that her dad died at work overnight.

Momma, Hubert, Hubert’s brother Colbert and his girlfriend visit Dawn at work one day. She takes a break, and they have lunch together. Sidney Coates, believed to have been the person who sold drugs to the man who caused the accident that killed Dawn’s father, drives up in the parking lot. Colbert jumps up from the table and stands in front of his car, causing a scene. Dawn’s boss later fires her and explains it’s not a good fit, implying that Dawn’s family has interrupted the business too many times.

Later, Colbert and his girlfriend take off in the car and don’t return until two days later, when a stupefied Colbert stumbles back into the house with red eyes. He stays on the couch for 16 hours straight before he wakes up again. On a walk in the woods, Dawn stumbles across Colbert’s girlfriend, who is covered in bruises and scrapes. Dawn runs away, shocked, and sits on the edge of the trampoline. Albert finds her, and they both assume that Colbert was the one who hurt his girlfriend.

While Dawn is still suspended from school, she assists Hubert with his illegal alcohol selling business. One day, she misses a customer when she gets too distracted by Willett Bilson playing music on the radio. Hubert smacks her across the face. Hubert drops her off at Mamaw’s at the end of the day. Mamaw tells Dawn she doesn’t want her working for Hubert.

The next day, Dawn and Mamaw go to inspect another strip-mining site. At the site, Dawn sees a pipe that looks like one that belongs to Momma. She looks into the window of an unfamiliar truck right where she found the pipe and sees a pair of Momma’s underwear on the seat inside. Confused, Dawn decides not to tell Mamaw. Dawn realizes the truck belongs to Keith Kelly, which means that the pipe really was Momma’s, and she was the woman who was in the truck with Keith. Dawn asks Mamaw and the organizers to drop her off instead of continuing with the inspection.

At home, Dawn confronts Momma about sleeping with Keith Kelly. She storms out of the house and sits in the front seat of one of Hubert’s cars. He joins her and offers to take her to get food. After eating, she goes to the library to check out the art books. After the library closes, Hubert picks her up. Albert and Evie are with him; the first time Dawn sees them together. Albert says they need to find Momma because Keith’s girlfriend is following her.

Hubert and Dawn drive around the mountain looking for Momma, stopping at a few houses and seedy parties. Dawn guesses she might be at Keith’s place. Hubert has Dawn drive the truck to Keith’s, but she gets stuck in a crowd of miners’ cars leaving the mine after shift change. She gets scared and angry and is unable to move the car. Keith Kelly’s car falls in behind them. He rams it into the back of Hubert’s truck a few times, before he slams into it and both cars are pushed to the side of the road against the mountain. Hubert hops out of the truck and opens the door of Keith’s car. Keith’s head is bloody, and he is slumped over the wheel. Hubert twists Keith’s head sharply, emitting a harsh cracking sound. Hubert claims Keith had already died in the crash, but Dawn still suspects that Hubert really killed him with the snap. She steps out into the snow, and despite all the violence, she feels a sense of peace, comparing it to a scene on a Christmas card.