Summary

In Chapter 9, Benson’s mother and sister inform him that his father has relapsed in his alcoholism. They ask Benson to visit him, keep him company, and dissuade him from drinking. Benson is reluctant. In narration, Benson recalls a pleasant memory of a time when he and Mike went to a beach together. Chapter 10 reads, “I don’t visit my father the next day. I don’t call” (55). Chapter 11 reads, “Or the next day after that” (56). In Chapter 12, Benson passes an uneventful day at work. In Chapter 13, Mitsuko is in a better mood since Mike called her on the phone. She decides to teach Benson how to properly cook various traditional Japanese meals. In Chapter 14, when Omar picks up Ahmad from daycare, he asks Benson if he would want to go out sometime. Omar says that it would not be a date. In...