The chapter opens with a soliloquy in which the narrator asks the reader to trust someone he just met. He says that he knows who the man is, but that he doesn't trust him because he's too easy to trust. He tells the reader that he also knows that the man likes comic books, jogging, and drinking coffee. The narrator says that if the man says he trusts him, he cannot trust him the way the man does. He promises to go with the man to bed, and the narrator wonders what kind of a man he really is. He wonders why the man seems to be expecting her answer, and wonders why he feels the distance between them again. He asks the narrator what to do to enter his world, since the men have taken the ladder away from him. He wants to know how much money he can get from his new project, which he needs help with. He complains that the men are always talking about money, and asks if they could give him a hand in the coming winter vacation.