In the final scene, as Hi lies down to sleep beside Ed, he has a series of prophetic dreams about the future fates of his friends: Gale and Evelle willingly return to prison after realizing that they aren't ready to return to society, Glen is ticketed by a Polish-American police officer after offending him with "one Pollack joke too many", and Nathan Jr. eventually becomes a football star after getting a football for Christmas from "a kindly couple who wish to remain unknown". The dream ends with an elderly couple (implied to be Hi and Ed) enjoying a holiday visit from a large family of children and grandchildren.