The chap­ter begins with Kel­lan and the nar­ra­tor attempt­ing to fix an old Ranchero, vis­it­ing var­i­ous local tal­ents in search of assis­tance. They encounter Roy Ess, a clever mechan­ic who observes Sun­day as a day of rest, and Maudie Antoinette, a knowl­edge­able woman pre­oc­cu­pied with her grown chil­dren. After fail­ing to secure help, the duo returns home to work on the car them­selves. They strug­gle with the ball join­t’s loca­tion amidst dirt and rust, and in a moment of clum­si­ness, Kel­lan’s weight caus­es the car to fall, leav­ing him filled with guilt as they both retreat from the scene.

In an effort to escape the tense atmos­phere, Kel­lan retreats to the attic, where the nar­ra­tor dis­cov­ers him using nitrous oxide, a sub­stance he seems to rely on for com­fort. Kel­lan shares cryp­tic draw­ings of peo­ple from his sketch­es, includ­ing a smudged girl and an old man, reveal­ing his deep­er mus­ings while under the influ­ence. One char­ac­ter named Wer­ryck comes into the con­ver­sa­tion, described with con­flict­ing traits by Kel­lan, who appears fright­ened at the prospect of his arrival.

Wer­ryck, described by Kel­lan as an omnipresent fig­ure, prompts fear and urgency. Kel­lan sug­gests that when he arrives, one should flee qui­et­ly, empha­siz­ing the unpre­dictabil­i­ty of Wer­ryck. The nar­ra­tor reflects on a child­hood mem­o­ry relat­ed to a pan­dem­ic, which led to the cre­ation of trav­el­ing hos­pi­tals run by a ship­ping bil­lion­aire, and con­nects this to Kel­lan’s men­tion of a “med­i­cine ship,” hint­ing at a pos­si­ble shared past regard­ing health crises.

As the chap­ter draws to a close, the nar­ra­tor shares his expe­ri­ences with Lark, who is pre­oc­cu­pied with a book cache she wish­es to explore, con­trast­ing with Kel­lan’s tur­moil. While nar­rat­ing their mis­ad­ven­tures, Lark’s pas­sion­ate com­mit­ment to her work shines through, show­cas­ing a stark dif­fer­ence between their cur­rent real­i­ties and the ten­sions of Kel­lan’s strug­gles with Wer­ryck and his gas habit. This nar­ra­tive ten­sion pro­vides an intrigu­ing glimpse into the com­plex­i­ties of rela­tion­ships, escape, and the pur­suit of solace amidst chaos.