"See the dingus? Can you see the wang-wang? You want to hold it and fool around with it awhile?" Stern actually wanted to get a better look at it, but he said, "No, thanks. I'm just getting in here and I want to take it easy. I'm going to just lie down and not do anything for a while." "I got that last set from a guy carved them in prison. Listen, do you want me to do another one on the wall? I can do blowing." "I just want to lie down here," said Stern, "and take it easy the first night. I have some things on my mind." Stern got down on the bed and thought again about the man down the street. He imagined coming home and finding out that the man had moved away, unable to make his mortgage payments. Or that he had developed a lower-back injury, so that the least motion would cause him agony. Stern saw himself running over with extended hand and showing the man that he would not take advantage of him, that he would not fight him in his weakened condition, that Jews forgive. He wanted opportunities to demonstrate that Jews are magnanimous, that Jews are sweet and hold no grudges. He pictured the man's boy falling down a well, and Stern, with sleeves rolled up, being the first to volunteer to work day and night digging adjacent holes to get him out. Or the man's child being stricken with a rare disease and Stern anonymously sending checks to pay the medical bills but somehow letting the man know it was really Stern. And then he saw himself and the man becoming fast friends from that point on, Stern inviting him in to the city to meet Belavista, showing the man he didn't mind his work clothes. But mostly he wanted the back injury, and clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes hard, as though just by straining he could make it happen. If only there was a way, he thought, that he could pay to make it happen--even a large figure like $8,000, which he would work off at $10 a week. His room-mate asked, "Do you mind any farting?" And Stern said, "I don't have any views on that." "I cut loose a few," said the man, "but I wanted to ask, because I know a lot of the younger ones object." The room was thick with the smell of merchant marine sheets, and Stern sat up, touching his stomach to see whether it had gotten any better since he had come to the home. "I've got something in here and I wonder how long I'm going to have to take to get it out of here," Stern said.