In 2017, Miles is a young boy living with his mother and his Grandpa Sly in suburban Maryland. While his mother is away at work, Miles is in charge of taking care of his grandfather. He sneaks his grandpa bourbon, against his mother’s wishes, and receives Sly’s help on his homework. Sly passes in and out of lucidity, often claiming that he can see his dead son Bobby. Sly killed Bobby back in 1972 when Bobby was high and drove a machete into the arm of his sister, Miles’ mother. Sly is haunted by Bobby’s ghost, but Miles has never seen him. When Miles’ mother gets home, he notices how much it bothers him that she is so obedient to her father. Despite her father being an annoyance to them all, she won’t let go of him. Another day, Miles asks about the Challenger, and whether the moon landings were a conspiracy. Miles’ mother pulls him away. She sees that he’d put Grandpa’s tooth, which had fallen out just the other day, on the fridge. She places the tooth in a glass of bourbon, where it decays, and then she gives Sly the bourbon. He dies, poisoned. Miles’ mother says that, although she’s not ready for the sudden silence in Sly’s absence, she’ll be fine.