Booker's never been much of one for shopping--you buy what you need, what you can afford, and that's that. The sort of asceticism that comes from not having much money, and not seeing much point in self-indulgence anyway.

But he's won a bit at cards lately, so he's got some money, and since they don't charge for anything on the ship, what else is he going to do with it? He doesn't need anything, and if he doesn't spend it on things for other people, he'll just end up finding whatever passes for alcohol hereabouts.

"Those scarves are nice," he says. "Do you think a teenage girl would wear one?"