This chapter opens with a wine tasting at a friend's house. The narrator asks the wine-tender what he thinks of the wine, and the winemaker replies that it must have cost "a mint." The narrator is glad that his friend liked the wine. The winemaker then tells the narrator that he will send him some bottles of wine from a nearby winery. He then asks the narrator to eat some food, and he tells him that his son, "little ge," is "such a reliable kid" and that his boss "really values him" . Little ge's comic books are very popular with the company's employees, and his boss is a big fan of them. He says that it would be better for little ge to come home to work as a "civil servant or teacher" , so that he can "stop worrying about him." Little ge has just signed a ten-year contract with his company, so he's stable now. Uncle Shallow is upset that little ge has signed such a long-term contract, but little ge says that he doesn't remember signing such a contract. He also says that the contract is a lie, because he made the contract so detailed that he wondered if there really was such a thing as a long term contract. Shallow says he has a lifetime contract, so no one can change his mind.