In this chapter, we learn that the narrator's name is "shell" and that he is a member of the Gambino crime family. We learn that he has been living in hiding for the past twenty-three hours. He is crying because he does not remember what happened to his wife. He has taken her cremated remains and put them in a ring for his index finger. The ring is a sign that he will never be ruled by mourning. He also learns that his wife's daughter is set to be married in October and that she will be marrying a man named "Balot" . The narrator tells us that he plans to watch the crime scene on the monitor and that the men who came to his hideout are the ones who have just committed the crime. He tells the narrator to take out his memories and pretend that nothing bad ever happened to him. He says that he just pretends that nothing ugly ever happened and he has hit upon an "excellent business model." The narrator asks if he killed his father, and the narrator tells him that it is very common for those who have had brain damage to have a failure in their brain function. It is a failure of the welfare ministry's program to improve the lives of children in the slums. He adds that many of the children wound up with "blind or crippled" brain injuries. He asks the narrator why he is crying. He wants to get rid of his "filthy past," and he wants to undergo "perance" for his sin