- So there was this guy—a painter/scientist called Mr. 07-03—who was all into nature.
- We're talking wood nymphs, forests, birds—an old-school granola-cruncher.
- Octavian remembers this one time Mr. 07-03 got them all to have a picnic during a summer day in the country; all the scholars plus Octavian and his mother went.
- It was a great day, for no reason other than everyone was just calm and happy, with good food and laughter all around. Here's what happened:
- The men gathered around Octavian's mother while their wives went off to the side. (We're guessing the wives weren't too happy about that.)
- Then 07-03 got it into his head that they should all be like animals again, crawling on all fours.
- So a bunch of the scholars and Octavian crawled on hands and knees in front of Octavian's mother, who laughed.
- That evening Mr. Gitney gave a speech that capped everything off: he basically stated that Nature is God's gift to civilized man and man should use Nature like it's his God-given right — like a new Eden.
- Then they went back to Boston.
- On the ride back, Octavian sits with 24-06, only when Octavian calls him "24-06," 24-06 tells him that's not his name; his name's Bono (no—not the singer from U2).
- Bono's not cool with Octavian. How do we know?
- Octavian wants to ask Bono about the moon and the sun, but Bono tells him to shut up or else he'll kick Octavian off the carriage.
- Then he tells Octavian that Octavian can't cry, even though he starts to pinch Octavian hard.
- Octavian tells us he stops feeling and becomes "observant" instead.
- He notices the scenery, like felons hanging from nooses—you know, cheery stuff.
- Then, when they arrive, Bono gets mysterious. He tells Octavian to "learn fear" because—we'll just quote—"fear is like happiness, but the smile is wider."
- Creepy…
- Octavian brings us back to the present and tells us that it was moments like this when—as a kid—he'd wonder who he really was.