No romance, eles tiveram uma ótima noite. Várias prostitutas foram contrabandeadas para a enfermaria, juntamente com uma considerável quantidade de álcool. Há alguma discussão sobre talvez escapar para "México ou Canadá", mas McMurphy e Turkle decidem ter um pouco de soneca antes de colocar seu plano em movimento apesar da janela estar aberta .
Harding supostamente iria acordá-los às 6 da manhã (note que já saía às 5 da manhã quando a discussão estava acontecendo) para que eles pudessem sair antes que os atendentes chegassem às 6h30, mas o que realmente acontece é que todos acabam dormindo tarde.
He squinted up at the dim clock. “It’s nearly five. I need me a little shut-eye before my big getaway. The day shift doesn’t come on for another two hours yet; let’s leave Billy and Candy down there a while longer. I’ll cut out about six. Sandy, honey, maybe an hour in the dorm would sober us up. What do you say? We got a long drive tomorrow, whether it’s Canada or Mexico or wherever.” Turkle and Harding and I stood up too. Everybody was still weaving pretty much, still pretty drunk, but a mellow, sad feeling, had drifted over the drunk. Turkle said he’d boot McMurphy and the girl out of bed in an hour.
...
I shook his hand, and we all started for the dorm. McMurphy told Turkle to tear up some sheets and pick out some of his favorite knots to be tied with. Turkle said he would. I got into my bed in the graying light of the dorm and heard McMurphy and the girl get into his bed. I was feeling numb and warm. I heard Mr. Turkle open the door to the linen room out in the hall, heave a long, loud, belching sigh as he pulled the door closed behind him. My eyes got used to the dark, and I could see McMurphy and the girl snuggled into each other’s [259] shoulders, getting comfortable, more like two tired little kids than a grown man and a grown woman in bed together to make love.
And that’s the way the black boys found them when they came to turn on the dorm lights at six-thirty.