Motes wakes up the next day in Mrs. Watt’s bed, and he is immediately and unexplainably engrossed with the idea of buying a new car. He only has fifty dollars to his name, but he decides that all he wants to do with his money is buy a car. He gets out of bed, gets dressed, and then heads into Taulkinham to check out the town’s various used-car dealerships. He travels from lot to lot, and as the day drags on, the cars are of increasingly poor quality.

Motes comes upon a lot called “Slade’s For the Latest” and ventures inside. As he is walking past the office building into the lot, a young boy tells him that he can’t go back there, but he continues anyways. He spots a “rat-colored machine” (64) at the back of the lot and knows immediately that this is the car he will buy. Motes asks to see Slade, but the boy tells him he is Slade; Motes ignores him and continues to inspect the car. Its interior is covered in dust and its back seat is missing, but Motes still wants it.

An older man, the real Slade, approaches and begins yelling at the younger boy.