S. acknowledges the fact that he has bad luck. He considers what it would have been like had he washed up on the shores of a peaceful city. He imagines being rescued by a family, working for the father and living a simple life. He imagines what it would have been like if he had arrived at an idyllic resort, or had been rescued by a fishing vessel. Finally, he fantasizes about living with Sola in a mansion on a temperate coast, “with vineyards extending over its grounds all the way to the vanishing point and beyond.” But instead, S. thinks solemnly, he is running for his life in the midst of chaos and destruction.

Eric comments that S.’s dream of living with a family might be a reference to one of S.’s childhood memories, of which there are so few.

Jen underlines the word “gaffed,” and asks Eric if he ever falls in love with the sound of a word.Jen frequently marks words that she loves; clearly, language and literature have strong associations for Jen.

Eric responds that he used to fall in love with words, but that he does not read for pleasure anymore. Reading for pleasure is “too big a luxury now.”

Jen writes that Eric was able to read for fun in the hospital. Here is another reference to Eric being in the hospital, an event that the reader still does not know much about.

In response to S.’s vineyard fantasy, Eric writes that Straka is making S. prescient in this scene, although S. does not know it.

Jen adds that  S.’s fantasy “sets up the move in Ch. 9.” At this point in the book the reader does not know what Jen and Eric are referring too, although their comments suggest that this scene foreshadows something that will occur towards the end of the book.