Holly criticizes the narrator for leaving Mag, who is now suffering from a terrible hangover. Mag stays with Holly and attracts the narrator's interest when she is regularly visited by a Brazilian politician named Jose. On the day the narrator first meets Jose, he finds the Brazilian man carrying "a load of suitcases" (42) into the apartment building. Later, the narrator overhears Mag and Holly talking on Holly's fire escape. He hears Holly say that she plans to leave America after the end of World War II to be with her brother Fred, a soldier. Mag is confused because she assumed that the narrator was named Fred. Holly discusses the narrator, claiming that he seems unintelligent because he wants to be on the inside, "staring out" (43). Mag and Holly discuss Jose and his sexual habits. Mag seems unable to remember too many details, however. She claims that not thinking about such things makes her "normal" (44). Holly claims that she would rather be "natural" (44) than normal in terms of sex. When Mag complains again about the prospect of moving to Brazil, Holly assures her that Brazil seems pleasant enough.