Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and child abuse.

Unsettled, Benny thinks about his girlfriend, Jill, who is one of the top real-estate agents at her agency. Benny is dedicated to her vision of the two of them forming their own agency and one day dominating the market. Now, Jill arrives. She kisses him and says that she will never forget him but then declares that they are on two different paths and must part. Confused, Benny tries to argue, but Jill merely suggests that Benny get a dog so that he will not be lonely. She leaves.

Benny’s phone rings, and he hopes that it is Jill. Instead, someone from the freight company confirms the delivery for the following morning.

The narrator interjects, warning the reader against hoping that Benny will be disappointed and learn a painful lesson; the narrator contends that if the reader were to wish such a thing, it would be like wishing this pain on themselves.

After his father’s murder, Benny’s mother, Naomi, sends him to live with his grandmother Cosima and then uses her husband’s life insurance to cruise around the world. Though Benny is only seven years old, Cosima takes pleasure in making him miserable.