- Maria falls ill and Mama decides to take her to the clinic, even though they have no money.
- Left alone, Mark joins a group of boys taunting the "s***-men," the men who gather the feces and urine filled buckets in the outhouses.
- That day, the "s***-men" are in no mood to be taunted, and they run after the boys. Mark is caught, and they take him to his house.
- With no adults around, they can do what they like, and they force Mark to stand in a bucket of feces and urine. They threaten to make him eat some, but don't carry out the threat.
- After they leave, Mark tries to clean himself as best he can, but there's insufficient water.
- Mama returns home and chides him for making fun of the "s*** men." They do unpleasant but necessary work, she tells him. And besides, they have no choice.
- Mark decides never to make fun of anybody again.