The second section is set in New York City in the 1990s. David works as a paralegal at a large law firm and is in a romantic relationship with Charles, who is a senior partner. Charles is much older and very wealthy; he even has a personal butler. The age and income gap between the two sometimes make David feel inferior and unsure of what he is contributing to the relationship. David reflects that “his presence here, as in many things, was amorphous and ultimately impotent” (188-89). They have to hide their relationship from everyone at the firm, and David’s friends are mistrustful of Charles.

Charles hosts a gathering to say goodbye to a man named Peter. Peter is one of Charles’s oldest friends (and former lover), who is dying of cancer and has decided to travel to Switzerland for assisted suicide. As he waits for Charles to arrive home, David reflects on the beginning of their relationship. He was living in a rough neighborhood in New York with very little money and was sometimes subjected to racist harassment. One day, David’s pen exploded on his shirt on the way to work. David went into the washroom reserved for executives to clean it and ran into Charles by chance.