Leaving college on a bus headed for New York, the narrator meets the vet from the Golden Day, who is being transferred to St. Elizabeth's (a mental hospital in Washington, D.C.), and his new attendant, Crenshaw. The vet reminisces about his first trip north to Chicago and speculates about the exciting new things the narrator is bound to experience in New York. He also tells the narrator that he hoped for a transfer to Washington, D.C., for a long time but wonders what brought it about so suddenly. As the bus reaches its next stop and they go their separate ways, he gives the narrator some last-minute advice about surviving in New York.
Arriving in New York, the narrator takes the subway to Harlem, where he is amazed to see so many black people. He is especially surprised to see an angry black man with a West Indian accent addressing a group of black men in the street without being arrested. After passing the group, the narrator asks two white policemen for directions to Men's House, where he registers, immediately goes to his room, and takes out his packet of letters, planning his job search.
