By early evening, Alfred has returned by subway to Harlem. He soaks the ankle but won't try to run the next morning. He isn't going to be a boxer anyway. He goes to work Monday and Tuesday but skips his workouts at the gym.
Tuesday night, while just wandering around Harlem, he finds himself in front of the gym and decides to go in and clean out his locker. Oddly, he feels tears in his eyes as he stuffs his gear into a paper shopping bag. Mr. Donatelli is in the gym but ignores him. Alfred finally calls to his mentor, says goodbye, and offers an apology. Donatelli says there is no need to apologize. Alfred asks if he would have been any good if he had continued. Donatellis answers that there is no way to know. Alfred asks if he could have been a contender. Donatelli tells him that only Alfred could answer that question, in time. Donatelli says that, as a manager, he would know about Alfred only after he was seriously hurt in the ring for the first time; but Alfred will know then, too. Lipsyte subtly shifts the verb tense in the conversation. Initially, the tense is conditional, with words like would, indicating that Alfred isn't planning to follow through with boxing. But by the end of the conversation, Alfred and Donatelli speak in future tense — "Will you tell me then?" — indicating that Alfred will continue training.
