Augie is undecided about what he wants to do with his life. Simon and his friends have all chosen paths, but he cannot make a decision. Dingbat offers him a solution, hiring him to help manage a boxer named Nails, who is supposedly “championship material.” When Dingbat finds someone in Michigan to fight Nails, he travels there with the boxer. Einhorn asks Augie to “get the lowdown” on what happens (87).

Augie decides to save money by taking a boat to the destination, but the boat ride makes Nails seasick. Nails loses the fight, and as Dingbat is “flat broke,” the men must hitchhike back to Chicago. They reach home, only to discover that a fire has burned down part of Einhorn’s house. Arson is suspected, and a policeman hints that he may be susceptible to a bribe.

Augie takes his mother to visit Georgie in the psychiatric hospital. Her eyesight is now much worse, but Georgie has grown a lot. Simon reveals that Grandma Lausch is “on her last legs” (93). He writes to her son, believing that she should be moved somewhere more suitable. Grandma Lausch assumes that her sons (whom she has not seen in many years) will place her in a lavish retirement community, but she discovers that she is being relocated to a shared room in a small house.