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Chapter 1

• A young man named Bird lingers in a store over an atlas open to a map of Africa.

• Bird's wife is in a maternity hospital giving birth.

• Bird has always wanted to visit Africa but may not be able to now since he will have a child.

• After leaving the shop, Bird encounters a transvestite who thinks Bird may be interested in an encounter but then rushes off.
• As Bird walks he thinks of his four-week alcoholic binge the week after he got married and his leaving graduate school as a result.

• Bird got a job at a cram school with the help of his father-in-law who is a professor.

• Bird knows that he needs to call his mother-in-law at the maternity hospital to find out about the birth but he seems to avoid every establishment which would have a phone.
• Bird finds his way into an...

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