Trainspotting

Danny narrates this chapter, relaying how he and Frank pulled off a lucrative drug deal with the assistance of a younger man. The chapter opens with Frank directing Danny and the boy not to flash their fresh cash. Danny finds this irritating.

Frank is especially hard on the young boy, physically threatening him and throwing a dart right at his face. Danny describes the boy’s terror: “[T]he wee boy screams, n starts greetin hysterically, shakin, like he’s huvin a fit” (285). After the boy leaves, Danny delicately tells Frank he shouldn’t have been so hard on him. Frank responds that he wanted to make sure the boy kept quiet. Unlike the boy, Frank says, Danny is a “true professional.” Danny feels soothed by this label.

Mark returns as the narrator in this chapter. He is attending yet another funeral, this time that of a pal, Matty. He’s staying with Gav to attend the funeral, and Gav fills him in on how Matty died; Matty learned he had AIDS after he experienced a stroke. He then got a cat that he wanted to take to visit his estranged daughter, Lisa. Matty then got toxoplasmosis from the cat’s feces. It’s a truly strange story but, according to Mark, “a typical Matty tale” (288).