The Rock and The River

The next day, Father and Sam get ready to go to the demonstration for Bucky that they have been planning. Sam thinks about Maxie and worries that Stick will come back and find the gun. He takes the gun out from where he was hiding it and examines it. As he does so, Father comes to the door and says it is time to go. Sam hides the gun behind his back, and when he realizes Father is not going to leave him long enough to put it away, he slides it in the back waistband of his pants. Sam stands at the front of the demonstration with Father. He sees the Panthers arrive and march into the middle of the crowd. Father begins speaking, and the prison vans pull up to unload Bucky.

After Bucky goes into the courthouse, the counterdemonstrators arrived. Police officers walk between the demonstrators and counterdemonstrators but they do not keep the peace for long. When fighting breaks out, the Panthers approach to break things up. Sam sees Stick sustain an injury, and he runs toward him. Father tries to follow Sam. Sam tries to break the man’s grip on Stick’s throat, but the man hits Sam so hard he falls back, and the gun falls out of his waistband.