Breakfast on Pluto

On the ferry to Liverpool, England, Braden meets Elephants, a boxer with a “scalded prawn” face. Elephants recently finished a prison sentence, and he has sex with Braden but then cries. Braden steals money from Elephants’ pocket once he falls asleep and goes to the deck to observe the lights of Liverpool.

Braden indicates that Irwin will be murdered later in the story. He shares that Terence wondered why Braden did not feel more empathy for Father Bernard and his suffering because Braden’s callousness was evident in his dirty letters and the scandal he caused in his small town.

All Braden ever wanted from Father Bernard was for the man to acknowledge him, and he confesses he has never bothered to think about the shame the priest might feel. Braden learns from his foster-sister Caroline (who always tried to be kind to him) that the priest provided additional money to their foster mother for his upkeep, and in a rage, Braden runs to Whiskers’ house to berate her for “cheating him” out of his inheritance. He wrecks the kitchen in front of Caroline’s new boyfriend, Frank, and even shouts at the neighbor O’Hare through the open window.