Chapter 7 Summary

Howie becomes an adult when he is twenty-three, after being on the job in the mezzanine for only four months. He owns only five shirts at the time, and has planned out his dry cleaning accordingly. In the morning, he has a package containing three of his newly cleaned shirts. Howie opens the package eagerly to greet his shirts, as if they are old friends. He chooses one of his white shirts to wear. He then discusses his dressing habits and how he adjusts them to make his workday easier. While considering how to relate his tucked T-shirt to his pants, he realizes that he can deodorize himself with his shirt on through a space in an open button. He is overcome with a feeling akin to "Balboa or Copernicus." In a long footnote he describes a similar sense of discovery when he...