i
- Hector and Achille argue, ostensibly over a tin bailing-cup that Achille borrowed; both men are carrying cutlasses.
- Hector tears at Achille's shirt, but the implication is deeper: Hector means to tear out his heart because he's all about stealing the beautiful Helen from him.
ii
- We switch back to Ma Kilman's No Pain Café and Seven Seas, whom she calls Old St. Omere and whose language she does not understand; it may be mixed with African words.
- She sees Philoctete approach and sets out the "medicinals" that he will require for his leg wound.
iii
- Philoctete tells Ma Kilman that he is blessed with his never-healing wound.
- How does he figure? He believes it is a reminder of the manacles his enslaved ancestors wore that ate away at their flesh.
- We learn of the depth of Philoctete's despair of ever being cured.