Stewing in his remorse, Aaron recalls an incident involving his missing student, Mark Rasmussen, who had persuaded him to work for a day on a fishing excursion boat as a way to experience life outside academia. On the boat, Aaron is enraged when the drunken guests begin to snag flying gulls with baited fish hooks; he halts the depravity by punching one of the perpetrators, a descent into violence that leaves him ashamed and depressed.
