It's lunch time at the elementary school where the narrator is hiding. He's got a message for the teacher: don't force the children to eat anything that they hate, because that'll make them sad. The teacher won't let him have the salted vegetables and the dessert, because he's a stranger, but he'll have a bite of the pudding as a reward. The narrator doesn't understand what's going on, but it's clear that the teacher is trying to make the children eat something they hate. He tells the teacher that he wants to save the children from the "horrors of salted vegetables" , but the teacher refuses to give him the carrots and the pudding. The children are so upset that they're planning to eat the vegetables themselves.