Chapter 4 Summary

At the Columbia Buffet, having used his last nickel for a cup of bad coffee, Arturo enters into an unspoken conflict with an indifferent Mexican waitress who ignores his gestures for service. She is attractive but wears tattered huaraches, which he feels is a defect worthy of criticism. Somehow this observation makes him feel happy. He tells her that if he were her, he would not been seen in them; she says she hates him and hopes he dies of heart failure. He pours half his cold coffee over the nickel on the table and leaves, feeling better.

Arturo does not remember if he went to his radical friend's house that night, which gives him the opportunity to describe Benny Cohen, who may be a Marxist or Communist. He does, however, remember lying in bed with his anger toward the waitress, forgetting he...