Chet arrives at the captain’s house and the door swings open almost immediately. Wilson stares at Chet as if he has never seen him before, and Chet thinks of Uncle Jerry saying that the captain’s mind is like “[s]wiss cheese, full of holes and gaps in his memory” (65). Chet almost turns away but instead tells Wilson that he saw a shark and that it crashed into him. He shows Wilson the scrape on his chest and says that he knows that his story does not make any sense, but Wilson stops him.

Wilson explains that the creek empties into the Raritan Bay, which goes to the Atlantic, and that the tidal conditions could sweep a shark into the creek. Wilson tells Chet that they need to act fast to warn people and that he will get his boat while Chet should go to the creek to tell swimmers what he saw. Chet tells him that no one will believe him, but Captain Wilson just puts a hand on his shoulder, telling him to go.