So B. It

Bernie calls Hilltop Home with a litany of Heidi’s questions, but the person who answers says that only Thurman Hill can respond to questions. No matter how many times Bernie calls or writes, however, Thurman Hill will not reply. When Heidi discovers the red Christmas sweater in the back of a closet in Mama’s and her apartment, she is more determined than ever to get through to Mr. Hill. Heidi gets the idea to travel to New York in person and works hard to convince Bernie that they must go. Heidi convinces Bernie to try to leave the apartment, but the agoraphobia takes hold and Bernie collapses in the hall. Zander is the only one available to help, and he and Heidi pull Bernie back into the apartment. Zander says he will tell no one, and Heidi realizes that Zander is not just all talk and pomp: “I felt a sliver of truth slip under my skin. A jagged little splinter of what lay underneath all those tales about war heroes and medals of honor” (73).

When Bernie recovers, Heidi tells her that she, Heidi, will go to Liberty alone. Bernie refuses to consider it, but Heidi secretly commits to the idea.

Heidi goes to the bus station in downtown Reno and finds a slot machine near Tommy Bun’s Hotdog Heaven. She puts her hair up and puts on lipstick, hoping that her “sweet way” with unexplainable luck is the same there as at Sudsy Duds. Within thirty minutes she wins enough quarters to buy the $313 bus ticket to Liberty. Heidi rolls the quarters into paper sleeves that she got at the bank on the way and places the rolls in a canvas duffle from home.

Since she is not old enough to buy her own bus ticket, she asks a passerby named Judi to buy it for her. Judi is “beat-up looking” and commends Heidi on running away. She willingly buys the bus ticket and asks Heidi if she has enough money for a second ticket. Heidi offers her the leftover dollar in quarters, but Judi tells her to keep it. The clerk complains about Judi making the purchase in rolled coins, but Judi doesn’t give in and Heidi appreciates her toughness: “I had been right about her being the right person, because I don’t think many people would have been willing to stand there being chewed out by the ticket man for buying a ticket with all those quarters” (84). Heidi goes home with the bus ticket and her four extra quarters.

When Heidi arrives home, she reveals the bus ticket and her plan to Bernie. Bernie is furious and worried; she tries a variety of tactics to keep Heidi from going, including guilt: “I’ve poured my whole self into you, Heidi […] like warm milk into a bucket. Why are you doing this now? Why can’t you just let things be?” (86-7). Heidi insists that her plan to seek the truth in Liberty is not about Bernie, but about herself, and that she will not ever give up seeking information about her background, Mama, or soof: “If I do, I’ll end up like Mama—full of missing pieces” (87). The argument grows heated; Bernie goes to her own apartment and, for the first time in Heidi’s life, closes the door between them. She returns, though, to heat up dinner for Mama and Heidi, and again at Heidi’s bedtime. Bernie gives in then, saying that she knows she cannot prevent Heidi from going.

Heidi starts her three-and-a-half-day trip to Liberty on September 22. She packs her things in Bernie’s blue suitcase, taking the photos along with two ham sandwiches. Heidi arranges for Zander to take her babysitting job at Mrs. Chudacoff’s while she is gone. Mama has one of her bad headaches when Heidi leaves, but they hug and Heidi tells Mama that she will be “back soon.” Heidi gives Bernie a map and pushpins, telling Bernie that she will call at each stop so that Bernie can mark her journey to New York with pins on the map. Bernie gives Heidi a boxed gift but instructs her to open it on the bus. Zander gives Heidi two packs of Devil Dogs as she leaves the building. Heidi heads up the street to the city bus stop that will take her to the station. 

Heidi waits at the station for a suitable candidate with whom to board the bus, so that no one grows concerned about such a young girl traveling alone. She boards with Alice Wilinsky, a talkative woman going to a family reunion in Salt Lake City. Alice has a pet carrier with five kittens in it. When Alice gets up to use the restroom, Heidi opens the gift Bernie gave her; it is the red sweater, washed and mended. At the first stop Heidi calls Bernie, but she falls asleep before the second stop and sleeps through until morning.

Alice tells Heidi about family members who share her birthday month (October) and others in the family with the name of Alice. Alice lets Heidi hold a kitten and gives her the strawberry-rhubarb pie she brought for the reunion. Heidi begins to tell Alice fibs about her own life: she has a grandmother who bakes excellent cakes and knows Shirley Temple. Alice calls Heidi out for fibbing when Heidi says Shirley Temple comes over to bake, sing, and dance at Heidi’s house. Everything changes with Heidi’s lie: “The air between us was thick and uncomfortable after that” (115). When Alice and the kittens get off the bus in Salt Lake City, Heidi feels lost and alone.