This chapter opens with the narrator lamenting that he has a boyfriend and that he is now thirty-two years old. He is sick of hearing about his unattractiveness and wants to know when he will get married and have his own family. He decides to do the "Kungkum Ritual" , where he must dip himself in a pool of water for hours in order to feel the "bones" in his body. He wonders if he is getting heavier and heavier as he walks more. He also wonders if his shoulders feel heavier as if they are carrying a heavy load on them. He notices that the water stream does not seem to exist and wonders if someone is burning trash at midnight. He then wonders why the water pool suddenly becomes full of "maggots" . He screams and screams until he realizes that it is because he sprained his ankle during the ritual.