 Diane is more distracted than usual. She wants to buy an autographed first edition copy of Hemingway s  The Sun Also Rises  for $500, but is short of cash. She contemplates asking Sam for the money, but hesitates based on their history. But she does ask, and Sam surprisingly agrees. In fact, he doesn t even want to know what she s going to buy; he states that such past loans to friends have always ended in him getting stiffed, so his new philosophy is to lend but not to expect to ever see the money again, and not really care. Diane is grateful, doesn t tell Sam what she s purchasing and says that she will repay him. A couple of weeks pass, Diane has purchased the book but Sam hasn t seen a penny of repayment. In fact, Diane seems to be spending a lot of money of late on little luxuries for herself. Carla eventually tells Sam that with his $500, Diane bought a book - a single, solitary book. Sam cracks under the pressure he s feeling and takes it out on Diane. Obviously he does care about getting repaid and about what she bought. As a display of good faith, Diane gives Sam the book as collateral until she pays him back. Despite Diane stating emphatically that Sam should treat the book with extra special care - she even wants him to keep it locked in his safe - Sam ends up reading the book in the bathtub, drops it into the water and ruins the book. He s afraid to tell Diane, and ends up not telling her. A rare book collector in the bar overhears Diane say that she has this book and he offers to buy it for $1,000. Diane quickly agrees, but Sam obviously doesn t want him to buy it. So a bidding war ensues. After Sam bids $1,200, Diane stops them and says that because Sam has this new found respect for literature, something she thought she d never see, she offers the book to Sam. He is relieved. That is until he finds out that Diane still expects $1,200 - albeit minus the original $500 that she owes Sam - for the book. Sam cracks once again under that same pressure he felt before and again takes it out on Diane. Meanwhile, the gang at the bar fail in an attempt to break the world bathroom stuffing record. Determined Cliff is desperate to make it into the world record book and will try other means to do so.