On the bus to work, Eleanor reflects on her poor night of sleep, during which she read Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. On a bus seat she finds an advertisement in the paper for a show featuring Johnnie Lomond’s band. She decides to buy a fashionable outfit after work for the concert. Johnnie tweets, “‘Get your fat backsides down to Cuttings tonight, mofos’” (117). Earlier that week, Eleanor bought a card with a hare on the front and inscribed it with Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Wild Nights! Wild Nights!.”

After work, Eleanor visits a department store. A sales associate named Claire selects a fashionable black top and black jeans for her. Claire questions Eleanor’s current shoes and recommends a pair of booties to pair with her new outfit. She sends Eleanor to the Bobbi Brown makeup counter for a free makeover. The good-natured makeup artist applies concealer to Eleanor’s scars and smoky eyeshadow to her eyes. Eleanor jokes that she looks like a raccoon but is pleased with the result. 

Eleanor eats a quick, distasteful dinner at McDonald’s for the first time. She reflects on the poor food quality at the restaurant, including her sandwich of fried fish and cheese, and the counterintuitively large crowd.