Part 1, Chapters 9 and 10 Summary

Sal has a chance to explore more of the outskirts of Denver and drives with his friend, Ray Rawilins and his sister, Babe, and some others to Central City, an old mining town in the mountains. While there, Sal escorts Babe to an opera held at the old town's opera house and later the group throws a party at an abandoned mining shack. People from all over the old town come in an out of the party until it becomes too boisterous for Sal and his friends. The next morning, the friends return to Denver and Sal contemplates leaving Denver for San Francisco.

Sal does not have much to stay in Denver for anymore, so Dean sets him up with a girl named Rita Bettencourt, a shy girl with not much ambition. Sal makes love to Rita but secretly...