The narrator begins his day at the office, where his boss inquires about his mother’s age and the narrator replies “about sixty,” which seems to satisfy the boss. He wrestles with a stack of freight invoices and, before lunch, washes his hands—a habit he enjoys at midday. He leaves the office a little late, at half past twelve, accompanied by Emmanuel, a dispatcher. Together they watch the sun‑blazed harbor and a loud truck rumble past, prompting them to sprint after it through dust, cranes, and ship hulls. Emmanuel laughs hysterically as they chase the vehicle, and the narrator helps him up after they both collapse from exhaustion. They reach Céleste’s café, where Céleste—a port‑side cook with a big belly, apron, and white moustache—asks if things are “all right.” The narrator says yes, expresses hunger, and eats quickly with coffee. After the meal he returns home, sleeps, wakes, smokes, and catches a streetcar, working the rest of the afternoon in the sweltering office. In the evening he walks back along the docks, noting a green sky, then goes straight home to boil potatoes.\n\nOn the stairs he meets old Salamando, his neighbour across the landing, who is arguing with his spaniel. The dog suffers from mange, its hair fallen and its skin covered in brown sores. Salamando, whose face is scarred with reddish scabs and wispy yellow hair, treats the animal with cruelty, beating it twice a day as they walk the same route on rue de Lyon. The narrator greets Salamando, who curses the dog as a “filthy, stinking bastard” and mutters “He’s always there.”\n\nAnother neighbour, Raymond Sintés, a short, broad‑shouldered warehouse guard who dresses sharply and keeps a pink‑and‑white plaster angel above his bed, enters the scene. He offers the narrator blood sausage and wine in his windowless, dirty room, lighting a paraffin lamp and bandaging his right hand, which he says is from a recent fight. Raymond recounts the fight, his short fuse, and then launches into the story of a woman he calls his mistress, accusing her of cheating and detailing how she lives off his money. He admits to having beaten her and wishes to punish her further, describing plans to write a harsh letter and to humiliate her. He asks the narrator to compose the letter; the narrator complies, writes it on the spot, reads it aloud twice, and receives Raymond’s approval. Raymond then asks the narrator to be his “pal,” addressing him as “Meursault.” The two finish the wine, smoke cigarettes, and discuss the death of the narrator’s mother, which Raymond acknowledges as inevitable.\n\nThe chapter ends with the narrator leaving Raymond’s room, hearing the quiet night outside, and pausing in the dark landing, while Salamando’s dog whimpers in its room.