- Back in the tent at KAEC, the young people are doing a whole lotta nothing. And now, the AC has died.
- They also still don't have a reliable wi-fi signal.
- Alan goes down to the waterline to dip his tootsies in the Red Sea. He marvels over how little development there is on the coastline.
- His businessman brain kicks in: wouldn't it be a great investment to own property here? How could he lose?
- Of course, he's momentarily forgotten how broke he is. And that he has terrible investment instincts.
- He thinks about his boyhood, when he loved collecting seashells. Alan reminisces about taking Kit to the seashore and how he misses her being little.
- Alan tries to compose that letter to Kit again, this time, in his mind. He's trying to defend her mother, but he's falling flat.
- He recalls how he met Ruby on a riverboat in Brazil.
- Basically, she was the only unattached female on board. They just started to hang out together.
- Alan learned that she wants to save the world, but not in a touchy-feely idealistic way. She's utterly practical. Alan's out of his depth with her.
- Alan and Ruby married pretty soon after that trip. It wasn't too long before Alan realized that Ruby regretted her choice. She wanted someone to make her world-saving dreams come true.
- Alan remembers how he'd accidentally swum in the Rio Negro with crocodiles during that riverboat trip. He feels that his young staff would be impressed by this, if they only knew.
- But it turns out that the crocodile story isn't really heroic. Alan had taken a leaky boat into the croc-infested waters and had to be saved by the riverboat's crew.
- So much for manliness and good judgment.