Wink

Ross is going to have his first radiation treatment. He describes the intimidating equipment around him and the two radiation techs, Frank and Callie. Frank wants to know what music he should play for Ross during the treatments, but Ross is ambivalent about music. Frank walks Ross through the coming procedure with some theatrical flair and reminds Ross to stare at a red X directly above him. The machines turn on; the treatment begins.

The chapter ends with a comic strip about Ross’s superhero Batpig, an anthropomorphic pig in a Batman costume. In “Batpig vs The Radioactive Zapper,” Batpig is trapped in a circumstance similar to Ross’s physical position during treatment; however, the “zapper” is meant to blow up Batpig’s face, and its creator is an “evil doctor.” Batpig easily escapes the steel table, destroys the zapper, punishes the doctor, and settles down to eat a sandwich.

Ross recalls the previous summer, when he discovered he has a tumor above his right eye. This was the first of several “Bad Days” that led to his present state.

On the first Bad Day, his eyelid becomes puffy like a bullfrog’s inflated vocal sac. He draws a bullfrog with a thought bubble that says, “Oof.