Van Go shoots Willy the Wino after Willy confronts him in an alley and claims to be his father. The encounter transforms a revelation about Van Go’s parentage into a violent rupture: Van Go recognizes a resemblance between them, turns his anger against Willy and himself, and flees after firing.

Encounter in the Alley

Walking past a high school and down a wide alley, Van Go hears someone call to him. He quickly draws his gun and turns to find Willy the Wino. The sudden meeting brings Willy’s claim into the open: he says that Van Go’s mother is well and insists that, despite their differences in complexion and appearance, he is Van Go’s father.

Recognition and Escalation

Willy’s claim makes resemblance the center of the confrontation. Van Go looks at Willy’s face and sees his own in it, an identification that intensifies rather than eases his anger. His thoughts turn toward his mother, himself, his children, and Rexall’s future; the revelation becomes entangled with his fear that the next generation may inherit the same sense of being unwanted.

The Shooting and Flight

Van Go shoots Willy in the stomach. Willy doubles over and looks at him, while Van Go shouts that Willy made him and that he is worthless. Van Go begins to cry; hearing something near the street, he runs away. The scene establishes that Willy is shot but does not confirm that he dies.

Narrative Significance

Told from Van Go’s perspective within the story about him, the event joins a newly asserted father-son relationship to an act of violence against the person who asserts it. The movement from Willy’s insistence on kinship to Van Go’s identification with him, then to the shooting and flight, makes recognition the scene’s turning point: resemblance is acknowledged, but it offers no reconciliation.