Chapter Five: Shopping. My Father’s Pipe. A Call from Mr. Bowditch. The Flour Cannister.

The seventeen year old protagonist goes shopping for supplies so that he can help take care of Mr. Bowditch, who has been in a hospital after an accident.
The items bought include a safety bar kit, drugs for Radar (the dog's) arthritis and heartworms, a urinal, a bedpan, disinfectant and heavy-duty window cleaner.
When he gets back home, he exhausts himself cleaning the house, and getting everything ready for Mr. Bowditch’s return.
He finds out later from his father, that Mr. Bowditch most probably had a caretaker mentality. He also discovers that Mr. Bodwitch owned a 1957 Studebaker, despite not having a driver’s license.
Mr. Bowditch calls him up on an old cordless phone demanding that he comes to visit him on the following day.
Mr. Bowditch also agrees to compensate him him $500 a week for his services, with an additional bonus at the end of the year.
The protagonist agrees to take the deal, despite being shocked by his overly generous offer.

The narrator receives a call from Howard Bowditch, who asks him to take $700 from a flour cannister in his kitchen as payment for services rendered - $500 as the first week's wages and $200 for previous expenses.
In the flour cannister, the narrator finds a large sum of money - $8,000 in cash and some gold pellets.
The narrator decides not to reveal the full amount of money or the gold pellets to his father, only the $700 payment. His father is initially amused and accepts Howard's actions as part of his agoraphobic's hoarding mentality.
His father suggests depositing $400 of the $700 into his college account. He agrees and lets his father do so while keeping some for himself.
The narrator lies in bed that night, wondering about the men Howard might have working in his locked shed, perhaps producing more gold. He suspects this might be the big secret Howard wants to talk about.

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