The chapter opens with the breakfast ready, and the narrator tells us that the little boy is scared of strangers. He asks the narrator to cut his hair so he won't have to go back to school. The narrator says it's a good thing he's so nice to the boy, because he is a "poor little kid" . She tells the boy that she's going to buy him some new clothes, and then she tells him to go to the mall so she can buy some more clothes and supplies for him. She says that she cares about kids, and that's why she likes him so much. She also says that the boy is a poor kid, but she loves him anyway, because she thinks that kids learn things from their surroundings, and she thinks this ability to empathize with others is more learned than it used to be. She adds that she doesn't know how to put it all together, but that she thinks kids learn a lot from what they've seen and experienced, and this is what makes them sad when they cry. She's not sure how to explain this to her mother, but the narrator says she'll tell her if her mother refuses to break off her relationship with the girl. She goes on to say that if she does, she will tell her mother that she is gay, and her mother will be shocked. She then tells the narrator that marital fraud is "over the line," and that she can pretend that it never happened, as long as she deals with the situation privately.