joe and ratso leaves for florida on a bus, headed to miami. joe buys new clothes for them both, and throws away his cowboy clothing. "i ain't no kinda hustler," joe decided, and he plans to find a regular job once they reached florida. joe and ratso talk and joke during the trip, but ratso dies before they arrived. joe realizes how much he had cared about ratso as a person, and that what he had missed most in his life was someone to be close with. joe had lost his grandmother and his sweetheart. now he had lost his best friend, and joe is scared to go on alone.