Chapters 6 and 7 Summary

An inexplicable feeling of doom has made Richard flee, and it takes a while to readjust to loneliness. He starts a fire, and, for fun, tries floating the 9/16th in the air. For an instant, it works before falling hard. If Shimoda did this by illusion, what is real? If life is illusion, why live? Without knowing the answers, Richard is happy to be where he is, knowing what he knows. Until 10 PM, he sings endless songs to keep from thinking and then mentally wishes Shimoda will get whatever he wants. The handbook falls open to a maxim declaring true family to be linked not by blood but by respect and joy in one another's lives. Richard cannot see how this applies to him, tells himself not to let a book replace his own thinking, and falls asleep.

Richard wake at...