Bedeker uses his newfound invulnerability to collect insurance money and cheap thrills by hurling himself into life-threatening accidents. After fourteen accidents, he concludes that removing risk and fear from his life was making life a dreadful bore. He purposely mixes a concoction of poisonous household liquids but, after he drinks it – shocking his wife – he states that it tasted "like lemonade to me... "weak" lemonade". Bedeker explains his situation to his wife, telling her that if she had any imagination, she would find some way for him to experience some excitement. He says he is going to jump off the roof of their apartment building; while trying to stop him, his wife accidentally falls off the edge herself. Unfazed by his wife's death, Bedeker phones the authorities and tells them he killed his wife, hoping to experience the electric chair.