In this chapter, the three young men discuss the upcoming launch of the International Space Station, which will be the first manned mission by an American. They are all excited about the prospect of seeing the launch and are planning to attend a job fair at a nearby mine on the following day. They tease each other about their plans to go to the job fair, but they are interrupted by their father, who tells them that they are too normal to believe that they will be chosen for a university like Saint Louis University, where he is a professor. He also tells them to follow their father's example and attend the vocational school at Porthill, where his father was a teacher.