The chapter opens with a conversation between the narrator and his childhood friend, a "plain jane" like the narrator. The narrator tells the girl that he's looking forward to meeting her, but that he feels a bit "down" because he hasn't been feeling up to it lately. He asks her what she's up to, and she tells him that she just thought something was up. He tells her that it's been a while since he thought anything was up, and he thinks maybe he might be a little tired. The girl asks him what he thinks about the idea of crossing the line between being able and not being able, and the narrator says that he doesn't know what to make of it. He suggests that the girl should be able to cross the line by being able to "sex wheeze" , which is a sexual term for someone who can't really do anything but have sex with someone else. He then asks the girl what she thinks of the word "esee cross," and she says that she'd never thought of it that way before. She tells the narrator that she was always liked by him, and that he always liked her. She then asks him why he rejected her. He says that it was because she was a little "hard" on him, because he was a member of the " zephyr theatre troupe" . She says that the girls need time to "digest a little bit" from the troupe, and they need to get used to the idea that they're not supposed to have sex. She also says that if they didn't have sex, then the world would end. She asks him if he thinks that's "psycho logical," and he says he'll eat the idea later on, and then they'll all be called esee cross. He also announces that the "litera-ture club," which he runs, will be disbanded this month.