The chapter opens with a memory of Jimmy, the boy who will become Snowman, standing before an enormous bonfire of cows, sheep and pigs. He is five or six, wearing red rubber boots with smiling duck faces on each toe, and he must shuffle through a pan of poisonous disinfectant after the fire’s heat forces him off the field. He worries about the “ducks” in his boots, despite being told they are only pictures. The bonfire is described in vivid detail: gasoline‑slicked carcasses, flames of yellow, white, red and orange, the smell of charred flesh, a gas‑station stench, and burning hair. Jimmy recalls cutting his own hair with manicure scissors, lighting it with his mother’s cigarette lighter, and setting it on fire repeatedly, ending with ragged hair that he later calls an experiment when confronted. His father laughs, his mother scolds, and a brief argument erupts over the lighter and the mother’s smoking habit. Jimmy feels relief that he will not be punished if he stays silent, yet also guilt for causing the dispute. A slammed door brings a puff of wind to his ears; his father tries to calm the situation with a joke about “women getting hot under the collar” and offers ice‑cream, which Jimmy eats from cereal bowls with handmade Mexican birds.

Later, Jimmy’s father takes him to a haircut shop. There is a poster of a fierce‑looking girl with quills of hair. Inside, hair littered the tiled floor. Jimmy is given a black cape‑like bib he dislikes, then a short, even cut that makes his hair look spiky with an orange‑peel scent. The barber calls him a “tough guy” and a “tiger,” tossing the cut hair onto the floor before removing the cape.

Back at the bonfire, Jimmy is anxious about the burning animals, fearing they feel pain. His father tells him they are dead, like steaks with skins still on, and that the heads matter because they seem to stare reproachfully. Jimmy is simultaneously horrified and fascinated, hoping for an explosion. He asks his father to lift him; his father assumes he wants comfort and hugs him. Jimmy then asks for a cow horn; his father pats his leg and declines, while a second man (a dealer) talks about “driving up the prices” and “making a killing.” The men speculate about bribery, delivery vans, bioprint technology, and the purpose of burning the livestock—to stop a disease from spreading.

The next morning at breakfast, Jimmy’s parents discuss the disease again. His father, busy with a calculator, says the fire was to contain it. His mother defines disease as a cough‑like contagion that can spread through air, water, or dirty fingers, warning him never to stick fingers in his mouth or wipe his nose. Jimmy feels a cough coming on, imagines his hair on fire, and cries. His mother, in a dressing gown, takes him for a brisk walk without coats, the wind chilling him. She talks in a calm, teacher‑like voice about how disease rearranges cells, while Jimmy pushes for more explanation, pleading to hear about “tiny cells.” She dismisses him, saying “Not today,” and leads him back inside.