The narrator tells us that he had a fever at his father's funeral. He had to go home and take care of his mother. He says that he dreamed about his father, who took him for a horse-drawn carriage ride. The narrator says that his parents divorced when he was a teenager, and that he has only seen his mother for about ten times in his life. He feels that his mother makes him feel worse about his own life, because he sees someone worse off than himself. He tells his mother to be strong, because everyone is counting on him. When the narrator asks if he is a monster, his mother says that she threatened him to marry his sister because he knew something about her father. Now that his father is dead, he should not be afraid of her anymore.