Summary

Beds – The author considers the need and value of beds and their placement in the home, placement that emphasizes beds as a place of safety, discretion, and seclusion. He imagines being able to see everyone in a big city in their beds, “millions of immobile people who have withdrawn from others in order to lie in a coma throughout the night (104), and also imagines a bed to be like a boat “which we board every evening” (104).

Fingers – As he watches his wife in conversation with one of her friends, the author considers how he thinks of parts of their respective bodies (specifically: their fingers) as being representative of their full beings, and identity. He considers different aspects of his own fingers, thinking of them at one point as snakes, at another point as childlike persons acting in opposition to the more parental thumb. He...