Section 5, Through p. 169 Summary

Still drifting in and out of his lengthy meditation session, Charlie recalls Humboldt's continuing descent into madness, a death spiral from which he never recovers. After Kathleen leaves him, Humboldt becomes even more obsessed with the notion that she is having an affair with one of her colleagues, a man named Magnasco. Humboldt harasses the innocent man to the point of going after him with a gun, pounding on his door with the butt of the weapon, insisting that he is hiding Humboldt's wife in his apartment. Ultimately, Magnasco calls the police and swears out a peace bond (e.g., a restraining order) against Humboldt. The police put a kicking and screaming Humboldt into a straight jacket and haul him off to Bellevue.

At this point in Charlie's meditation, he begins to fill in his bittersweet memories of his...