Summary

The narrator visited Mama in the Chicken Coop, the restaurant she had operated since the narrator was young. She expressed concern about his recent promotion, telling him to spend less time in “that white tower” (75). When Mama brought up a letter she had received from the narrator’s father, the narrator balked, saying he did not “associate with criminals” (74). The narrator’s cousin Supercargo stopped in, someone he described as “mostly a good guy” (77) who was often stopped by police. The narrator attributed most of this trouble to his clothes and his “magnificent, unstructured, unprofessional hair” (78).

Hoping to win early favor with the hospital, the narrator recruited his college friend and pill provider, Jo Jo, to help him make a marketing video. While the friends discussed the plan inside Jo Jo’s house, a uniformed man appeared at the door and, without explanation...