The power goes out for the third time in a row, and the manager asks why he didn't tell him earlier. The manager says it's because most people don't use the lights anyway, so he'll wait until the neighbors complain. He tells the manager to smoke a new cigarette, because the old one's gone. He compares the smoke to a cough, and asks the manager if he's ever smoked before. The man says he hasn't smoked in twenty years, but the manager won't let him tell anyone else. He says he knows what the man's thinking, but he doesn't want to tell him. He asks the man if he said just one puff before, and if he expects to manage his staff, and he asks if the man is cold already, because he used to sleep in the cold streets. The narrator says the man shouldn't be cold because he was used to sleeping on the streets. He's not cold, he says, because of the smoke, and that's why he smokes. He also says that the man has gotten used to being in the dark, and now he hates the light, because it makes him feel "maguely and fleetingly" alive.