Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church becomes a late-night stop in Jack Twist’s effort to give away the cash he has brought back from Connecticut. Its closing assistant minister accepts bundles of money from him, but the donation does not quiet Jack’s growing shame: the church marks a pause in his giving, not an escape from guilt.

Setting and Visit

After leaving the church steps and noticing that Fifth Avenue seemed newly bright and clean, Jack drove west and north before returning south to the church. He parked illegally again and took cash from the trunk. The sequence connects the church visit to his changed perception of the city: the streets had not transformed, he realized; his own view of them had begun to change.

The church was being closed for the night. Unlike the poor-box at Jack’s earlier church stop, it had no poor-box, so he approached a young assistant minister who was still there. The encounter is brief and practical: a nearly closed church, a startled cleric, and a visitor carrying far more cash than an ordinary donation would suggest.

The Donation

Jack produced bundles of ten- and twenty-dollar bills from various pockets. They were wrapped with rubber bands, and he handed them to the assistant minister, explaining that he had won a fortune in casinos in Atlantic City. The cleric’s surprise makes the scale of the gift visible without establishing how much of the total was given specifically at this church.

Across two church stops, Jack had given away thirty thousand dollars. Even after those donations, three hundred thirty thousand dollars remained in the trunk. His explanation to the minister offered a ready account of the money, but it did not match the burden Jack himself attached to it: the cash had come back with him from Connecticut, and he wanted it gone.

Place in Jack’s Return

The church does not resolve Jack’s shame. Instead, the donation sharpens the contrast between outward generosity and inward distress: giving away a substantial sum leaves him more conscious, not less, of the money still waiting in the trunk. He thinks of that remaining bag as a telltale heart, an insistent reminder of guilt that he cannot silence simply by spending.

The church’s role is therefore modest but decisive. It offers Jack another place to transfer the cash, while the scene shows that the deeper change underway is in how he sees himself and the city around him. With three hundred thirty thousand dollars still left, the visit ends not with relief but with the prospect of further giving.