The chapter opens with a soliloquy in which the narrator laments the fact that his younger colleague, the branch manager, is "too unfriendly" to him. He also laments that there are no available rooms in the company's hotel. He asks the younger colleague if there are any available rooms due to an "event" that caused him to cancel his room reservation. The younger colleague replies that there is, but that due to "an event" he has been forced to stay in two separate rooms. The narrator then asks the young colleague if he has noticed that the two of them have been acting strangely lately. The young colleague says that he has, and that he wants to have a "nice long talk" with the young man. The two men agree to meet the next day at the office. When they arrive at work, they find that the room they were supposed to have reserved for the night has already been reserved for another person. They decide to sleep in the same room as the other person, and the narrator tells him that he is "pretty drunk" and wishes that he could have someone to take him to bed. He then asks if he is fine with sleeping with someone who is "a heavy drinker." The young man replies that he was "excited" that he would be able to "get by without drinking" if he and the younger man slept together. He tells the narrator that he wishes he could "have someone take him" to bed so that they could kiss and "snatch" at each other.